12 Ways to Die
by TeamAlphaQ
Summary: When the CreepyPastas decide to play a 'game' with a group of eight girls, the body's start adding up. Slenderman just wanted to get it over with as fast as possible, that is, until he met Bean. Rated T for gore.
1. The Game

**A/N: We always knew my empty nest syndrome would result in something interesting. Of course I didn't really expect it to turn into a Slenderman x OC but sometimes we don't have a choice.**

 **The monsters in our heads don't give us an option.**

 **I would like to give a brief but heartfelt thank you to two very nice people who have given me the use of their OCs: Carmelita01 and her OC Bean and IAmDeadGhost and his OC Spectra.**

 **They're what made this story happen.**

 **Enough of me, ENJOY!**

Sometimes Slenderman could not stand Jeffrey the killer. Most of the time, Jeffrey made up for his unbearableness in amusingly stupid antics that never hurt anyone but always left Slenderman with raised eye brows and a hidden smile but sometimes he crossed the line. Typically the line was crossed when Jeffrey roped Slenderman himself into his quagmire of stupidity.

Tonight was shaping up to be one of those dreaded nights. It had started looking bad when the ragtag group of CreepyPastas retired not to the living room as usual but to the small unused office on the ground floor. All the room contained was a large, circular, oak table and assorted chairs to accompany it. Now it was filled with the motley crew of children to young adults (plus one clown who never quite understood growing up) who all seemed to be waiting for something. Even little Sally, sitting at attention on a mound of pillows, seemed to be intently focused on waiting silently.

That something turned out to be Slenderman. Knowing that getting involved would invariably mean at least an evening wasted and possibly longer, Slenderman softly slipped into the dimly lit office and moved to stand behind the creator of this assembly: Jeffrey.

With a scared and sliced grin that greatly irked Slenderman, Jeffrey drove his knife into the table and said in a lazy drawling hiss, "Slenderman, glad you could join us."

Deigning not to give him the benefit of an answer Slenderman instead chose to casually invade the minds of his three proxies, who all sat around the table, to discover the purpose of this meeting. Sadly, his snooping provided nothing but more questions. Apparently, Jeffrey had been keeping the entire group in the dark until Slenderman arrived.

Jane the killer, who had been examining her nails for any dried blood caked under the tips, flipped her hair out of her eyes with a finger and asked with an air of impatience, "Are you going to tell us what this is all about or not?" Her dark eyes shoot daggers at Jeffrey but he merely brushes her annoyance away with a wave a white fingered hand.

"Patience Jane, now that we're all here, I do believe I will." With an evil light in his unblinking eyes, Jeffrey splayed his hands on the table and announced, "I propose a game."

Immediate interest was sparked among those gathered. Benjamin and Sally both looked at each other and grinned in their excitement, no doubt the very mention of a 'game' had them riled up. Others, like the Bloody Painter, only sported looks of mild intrigue. Slenderman himself was mentally preparing himself for another week wasted.

"And what, Tootsie, is this game?" Laughing Jack asked skeptically. He had every reason to be unsure. Jeffrey's games very rarely ended well.

Jeffrey let out a soft cackle and replied with every sign of enthusiasm, "It's a game of death, kind of a competition but also just a test of skill."

When the table remained quiet he continued. "For reasons and in ways I will not get into I happened across a tidbit of information concerning the old location of this house before it was brought to this dimension, namely the cabin next door."

Puppeteer let out a soft laugh and muttered, "Let me guess, you want to kill the people who live there."

Jeffrey laughed. "How did you know?" After taking a second to school his expression into a more manageable smirk he expanded on his plan. "There is a group of college students coming to stay at the house for twelve days. My idea is to split into teams and kill all eight of them before they leave."

Eyeless Jack, who had been silent to this point, raised a delicate hand. "Teams?"

Jeffrey nodded. "I'm thinking teams of two, one girl for each team. The goal would be to kill only your target before the twelve days are over without the other girls catching you."

Masky tilted his head as he queried, "How are we going to keep them from escaping? They'll all scamper once they find the first corpse." Slenderman was thankful for the injection of sense into the conversation. Finally a way to halt Jeffery's plan before it had a chance to get out of hand.

Unfortunately, Jeffrey had a solution. "That's where you come in Slendy."

With an indignant aura Slenderman stared down at Jeffrey. "What are you suggesting _I_ do?"

"I'm asking you to briefly lift the house into an alternate dimension."

Slenderman could not help but bristle at the suggestion. Yes, this was definitely one of those times that Jeffrey crossed the line but sadly, Jeffrey always did it well. All eyes at the table were fixed on Slenderman, waiting for him to say something. Clearly, everyone wanted to play Jeffrey's stupid game and it would be foolish for Slenderman to deny them at this point. Sometimes a leader had to give in, if only to keep the peace.

With a sigh of long suffering Slenderman said, "Very well Jeffrey. But only for those twelve days."

Jeffrey nods in excitement. "Excellent! If a team's target can survive the twelve days, we have to let them live. So, who's ready to play?"

From across the table, Zero flipped her hair over one shoulder with an evil grin. "I'm in if I can work alone."

Nodding Jeffrey surveyed the rest of the people gathered at the table and said, "Who else?"

Masky slipped an arm around Hoodie's shoulders, much to the amusement of the rest of the table. "We're in. Can we be a team?"

"Yeah, the teams should be pretty easy." Jeffrey gestured at Masky and Hoodie. "You two as a team, Clockwork and Toby together, Puppet and Painter," He covered Jane's hand in one of his own. "Jane and I, Ben and Sally and EJ and LJ can pair up." With a lazy look up Jeffrey added, "Slenderman can work alone."

Slenderman nodded but did not say anything. It was preferable to work on his own because he would not have anyone else slowing him down. He could easily finish off his target and not have to worry about this ridiculous turn of affairs until such time as he had to replace the cabin into reality.

Ticci Toby twitched in his seat next to Clockwork. "How are we going to know which girl to attack?"

"Pictures." With a flourish Jeffrey revealed a manila envelope and withdrew from it a set of eight pictures. Swiftly he arranged them on the table before his audience.

Interest piqued, Slenderman examined the faces in the glossy pictures Jeffrey no doubt had stolen. There were things he could tell from just looking at a face, namely their personality which always shone through the eyes.

The first girl was an austere looking girl with sharp features and a cold look in her grey blue eyes. Her hair was bleach blond and absolutely straight. Slenderman could see the intelligent calculations in her eyes and instantly disliked her. She would be the proud type no doubt.

The next girl was a wispy thing, so pale she seemed almost transparent. Her long blue hid her face for the most part and her purple eyes showed uncertainty and fear. She looked like she would rather hide than be standing there for a picture. Slenderman knew she was the timid kind at once.

The third girl had a round cheerful face surrounded by curly brunette locks. There was nothing hidden in her warm brown eyes, she was an open book for anyone who cared to read her. There was a pure kindness in her eyes that seemed to envelope all who looked at her. She was a cheerful one.

The next girl had a definite Asian influence in her features. Her eyes were narrowed to sits and her nose was turned up as though she was loathe to look directly at the camera. There was intelligence in her face but no common sense to temper it. Her eyes appeared to be searching the observer for flaws even through the picture. A bitch no doubt.

The fifth girl was a bouncy looking blond who probably had more cleavage than brains. There was a forced cheerfulness to her that felt fake and dirty almost. Her bright green eyes were empty of any true substance and the makeup surrounding them did nothing to help this fact. She was only a mask of a girl.

The next two wore matching expressions of Idon'tgiveashit. The first was taller with long straight dirty blond hair. There was sarcasm in the slight curl of her upper lip and her brown eyes seemed to bore into you, finding every flaw. The smaller girl had brown hair and a coldness in her eyes that was meaner than her companion. She would probably insult you as soon as look at you.

Slenderman's eyes at last drifted to the last girl's picture and he drew in a breath of surprise. It was her eyes that shocked him. More akin to cat's eyes than a human, her ocean blue eyes were full of a stubborn beauty that could not be described. Her curly blond hair seemed to have rust trapped between the strands. There was a wariness and paranoia in her eyes that was no doubt put there by pain. Put together, the girl was a mystery to Slenderman.

The Bloody Painter delicately picked up the picture of the plump brunette. "I assume you have names?"

Jeffrey grinned more widely than usual as he said in a silky whisper, "The one you're holding is named Catherine." He placed a finger on the green eyed girl. "This one's name is Mackenzie."

Like a flash Zero's hand shot out and grabbed the picture. "I call killing this girl!"

Puppeteer plucked the picture of Catherine from his boyfriend's fingers. "We'll kill this girl." He announced with a lazy grin.

Hoodie pointed to the short Idon'tgiveashit brunette. "What's her name?"

Jeffrey looked at the picture. "That's Sophia." He gestured at the blond that was next to her. "That one's Ellie."

Benjamin quickly grabbed the picture of Ellie and showed it to Sally who nodded in excitement. "Sal and I will kill this one."

Masky drew the picture of Sophia over to himself to take a closer look. "We got this one."

Laughing Jack tapped a claw against the blue haired girl. "Whatever her name is we'll kill her."

"Her name is Spectra." Jeffrey informed the monochrome clown with a smirk as he grabbed for the Asian girl. "This one's name is Emily and Jane and I will kill her."

Clockwork examined the remaining two girls and at last chose the austere blond. "Who's she?"

"Her name is Taylor." Jeffrey grabbed the mysterious girl that remained and handed her to Slenderman. "Looks like you get to kill Bean."

Slenderman looked over the girl once more and decided that the name suited her. "When shall we start?"

Jeffrey plucked his knife from the table's oaken grasp. "Tomorrow morning."

As Slenderman nodded and tucked Bean's picture into his suit coat. This game might not end so badly after all.

 **A/N: And now you see why I've stayed away from OCs… I just don't do well with them. For anyone who recognizes the connection, yes, I did get the idea from Until Dawn and yes, Emily is sort of from the game as well. I sort of hate her and I sort of really want an excuse to murder her brutally.**

 **Until next time, thanks for reading.**


	2. Rooming Arrangements and Scary Stories

**A/N: So, awkward story time! I was talking to IamDeadGhost and for some reason I got it into my head that they were a girl. Turns out they're a guy…**

 **I am really sorry about that IamDeadGhost. Really sorry…**

 **Also, I'm getting some assistance from IamDeadGhost on writing this thing. He's been a huge help with getting my facts straight.**

 **Ah well, on to the story! Enjoy!**

 _Bean_

Bean peered around the door frame nervously. This would _never_ be her first choice when her friends decide to go on a vacation together. The old musty smell that always emanated from the large wood cabin's depths caused her to wrinkle her nose in distaste. As she cautiously stepped over the threshold a cloud of dust blew up from the rug.

"Come on Bean!" Her best friend, Spectra pushed her over the doorstep and walked in past her. "It's just a house, it's not like it's gonna bite or something." Bean stared at her purple eyed friend in surprise. It wasn't often that she didn't act like a kicked puppy. The change was a nice one.

"That's rich, coming from a mouse like you." That bawdy voice belonged to Emily. Bean had never quite understood why her friends put up with Emily; all she knew was that she wished they wouldn't bother. The girl was unbearable.

Bristling in defense of her friend Bean snarled, "Shut up Em, nobody wants to listen to you."

Emily sneered but shut up anyway, probably figuring Bean wasn't worth the fight. Swishing her black hair out of her eyes, she walked over to the staircase and started up it. "Fine then!" She called, "I'm going to decide what room I'm staying in. We should also figure out who we're rooming with." Of course there was no point to the exercise. Bean's friends always roomed with the same people and slept in the same rooms.

To distract herself from her dismal prospects, Bean slowly walked over to Spectra, who tossed her stuff down onto the couch before collapsing onto it herself. Tossing her long blue hair over her shoulder Spectra muttered something that sounded vaguely apologetic before mumbling, "You know I can deal with Emily on my own, right?" The determined look in those purple eyes was almost too much to bear. Thankfully, Bean had experience with her timid little lion of a friend.

With a shrug Bean softly said. "Yeah, but I also know you won't do anything. Isn't it better for me to stick up for you rather than have Em walk all over you?"

With a sad look Spectra examined her small delicate hands. "I used to stand up for myself. I've got to learn to do it again somehow."

Bean pondered that for a moment. For the years that she'd known Spectra, all she'd ever seen was a mouse of a girl. It was hard to believe that she'd ever been something else.

As though to break the sad silence that had descended over the room, a bright happy face coated with about five pounds of makeup bounced through the open door. "Spectra, Bean!" Mackenzie exclaimed as she ran over to the two girls. Arms outstretched she attempted bestow upon Spectra a big sloppy hug.

Shrinking away from the oncoming hug as though it were poisonous, Spectra curled up and said with severely limited enthusiasm, "Hey Kenzie…"

Bean felt a smile tug on her lips as she folded herself into an armchair by an unlit fireplace. Looking up she stared absently at the behemoth of a chandelier that hung from the ceiling. It swung in an almost hypnotic way.

At last her trance was broken by the sounds of more arrivals. Turning her head, she caught sight of two girls with identical deadpan looks coming through the door.

"Is there internet and where the fuck is the TV?" Ellie asked with unmasked disgust.

"Just tell me where to put my computer…" Sophia muttered as she looked around the room with a wrinkled nose.

"Why don't you guys set your stuff up in an empty bedroom upstairs?" Mackenzie said with unfailing enthusiasm. "Because I'm sure there'll be plenty of room for all you neat little gadgets and gizmos!"

"This is specialized gaming equipment we're carrying you dolt." Ellie shot back. "Come on Soph, let's leave this idiot to stew in her own stupidity." She flipped her long dirty blond hair out of her eyes and stalked up the stairs as if she was looking to kill someone.

With one last glare at Mackenzie, Sophia followed.

Both of the girls were relatively new to the group and weren't quite ready to fit in under Mackenzie's rules. Bean was pretty sure that the only reason Ellie and Sophia were kept around was that Mackenzie saw them as a little pet project, a chance to help the poor nerds of college.

"This dump again." Taylor walked in through the door and looked around, her nose in the air. Catherine's cheerful face followed ladened by her bags and Taylors. The eager way she carried herself only served to make her look like an obedient dog. Sadly, this wasn't far from the truth. "I wish you would clean the place up Kenzie, it smells like shit."

"I know." Mackenzie bobbed her head and her boobs jiggled in time with it. Disgusted, Bean looked away. If there's one thing she hated more than Emily, it would have to be Mackenzie's cleavage.

Catherine moved past Taylor and hurried to the staircase. "Where should I put your stuff Tay?"

Taylor gave her a dismissive wave of a manicured hand. "The master bedroom of course, I'm sharing it with Kenzie."

Bean stared up at the plump girl as she hurried off. "You should really treat her better." She found herself saying to the stern face of Taylor.

"Why bother." She sniffed. "Ren does whatever I tell her to no matter how I treat her." The statement was sad because of the truth behind it. The wonderful girl was tied to Taylor with bonds no one could possibly understand.

"Where are we sleeping?" Bean asked as she listened to the banging sounds coming from above.

As always, Mackenzie screwed her face up into something that resembled pity and said, "Sorry, there are only three bedrooms upstairs. I hope you two don't mind sleeping downstairs." Bean sighed softly and nodded. Every time she came here with her 'friends' she ended up the odd one out.

"Come on Bean, we should probably put our stuff away." Spectra's soft voice reminded her that she wouldn't be quite alone. Getting stuck with her best friend wasn't all that bad but it still irked her that the other girls were so quick to isolate her.

Quickly she picked her stuff up and followed Spectra through the long dark hall to an equally uninviting bedroom. It consisted of twin beds on opposite walls of the room. With a sigh Spectra tossed her stuff onto the left bed and sunk to the floor next to it.

"Looks like you're stuck with me." Spectra joked, sticking her tongue out then curling in on herself as if regretting the momentary lapse of timidity. "The weird one."

Bean sighed and collapsed on her own bed. In truth, _she_ was the weird one. Sure Spectra had a lot on her plate but as far as Bean could tell, she led a fairly normal life. On the other hand, Bean had never experienced normal and wouldn't know it even if it bit her.

Both of them sat in silence for a while, unable to think of something to say and unwilling to break the quiet without a good reason. Shattering glass from somewhere in the house brought their heads up. Unwillingly, both of them got to their feet and slowly crept out of their bedroom.

It didn't take long to discover the source of the commotion.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Catherine danced around the broken plate with a look of distress plain on her round face.

Emily scoffed, "It doesn't matter what you _meant_ to happen. What matters is what _did_ happen."

From the couch Ellie looked up from whatever game Sophia was playing on her laptop and said sympathetically, "We're not upset with you Ren."

Sophia schooled her face into a similar expression. "Yeah, it's not your fault you can't see your toes." Bean cringed for Catherine, who clearly hadn't gotten the insult.

"Wait, what does that mean?" Catherine asked in a warble, clearly on the verge of tears.

With a groan Emily shot, "She means you're fat, idiot."

Pathetic whimpers came from Catherine as she broke down crying. At once Taylor was at her side, pulling her from the glass fragments and wiping her eyes. "My god Emily," She growled in anger. "Sometimes you really need to keep your mouth shut."

"Yeah." chorused Sophia and Ellie from the couch.

Taylor glared sharply at the two. "I'm talking to you too." With kind shushing sounds she carefully moved Catherine to the cozy arm chair and sat her down. Glancing up, her eyes found Bean and Spectra. "Clean that mess up." She ordered.

Unwilling to go against Taylor, Spectra hurried over to the closet and searched for a broom. Bean just stood there, unsure if it would be wise to get involved. Her mind was made up for her by Mackenzie stepping around all the mayhem and grabbing her arm, pulling into the main room with a laugh.

"Come on, are you really gonna just stand there? We aren't going to bite." Sometimes Mackenzie couldn't read social cues to save her life. She looked over at the couch at Emily and muttered, just for Bean's benefit. "Well, _she_ might."

Bean laughed uncomfortably as she followed her friend into the room. Sometimes, she thought as she surveyed the room once more, she wondered how she'd managed to get saddled with these idiots. Then she remembered how crappy her life would have been without them and stopped wondering.

She wouldn't be able to live without them.

 _Mackenzie_

Mackenzie scooted closer to the fire and shivered from the chill. Despite the fact that it was the middle of winter and they were in the north, she wore only a short dress and a decorative cardigan. As cute as the outfit may have been, Mackenzie wasn't getting any points for practicality. Her ridiculous clothing choice was not born out of a lack of experience; rather, she was loath to looking ugly in exchange for warmth. Her friends were more sensible in their choice of attire but not by much. Only Spectra looked like she knew what she was doing courtesy of her thick down jacket.

The eight girls had elected to erect a fire pit out in the middle of the woods to enhance the camping feel of the trip. Mackenzie would have much rather sat inside at the foot of the gas fire in the foyer but as the leader of the group, she had to make sacrifices. To be honest, this wasn't the worst idea in the world. She actually liked the forest at night!

Everything about the tall trees reminded Mackenzie of her childhood and of sweet innocence. She adored the way the trunks seemed to bend around her as though to embrace each other. Thanks to her frequent visits throughout her life, the dark ominous forest had become a place of adventure as opposed to one of fear.

Not that Mackenzie's friends would agree with her. From across the fire pit, Spectra jumped at every little snap of twigs and crackle of leaves. Emily kept tossing her head around as though waiting for someone to jump out at her and even Taylor seemed a little off put, despite the fact that she had been here before.

Surprisingly enough, Ellie and Sophia, the new additions to the group were completely at ease with their surroundings. Both were hunched over Sophia's iPhone, squinting at the tiny screen and occasionally muttering snide comments under their breath.

"What time is it?" Bean's voice clattered at the end as her teeth knocked together in a violent shiver.

Catherine, the only warm one among them, looked at her phone and with a smile replied, "11:40!"

"M-maybe we should g-get back to the house." Spectra forced out through numb lips. Despite how much Mackenzie loved to stay outside she could tell her friends were getting rather tired. It's her job to notice things like that.

Forgetting that she too was shivering Emily sneered. "Why, are you scared of something? You've been jumping at every little noise." Mackenzie rolled her eyes. Emily had been no better than Spectra on that count

"I'm not scared!" Spectra shot back with more fierceness than Mackenzie had ever seen in her before. Going back to her normal timid self she bit her lip and muttered, "There's no such thing as monsters."

Ellie and Sophia, who had been lost to the world up to that point, looked up. Sophia looked at Ellie as though asking a silent question then said, "If you want to believe that, that's your prerogative. I prefer to put my faith in the facts."

Catherine bounced up and down on her tree stump with excitement. "Ooh! Are we going to tell scary stories? I love scary stories! Can I tell one first?" Mackenzie looked at her plump friend and smiled, she had an infectious smile that affected all that surrounded her.

Ellie rolled her eyes, an action she was quite skilled at, before muttering, "Very well, although I doubt you know something I haven't heard, unless of course you have an update from the monsters in my closet."

Unaffected by Ellie's sarcasm, Catherine lowered her voice and said, "His name is Hookman."

"Ooh I'm _so_ scared." Sophia mutters. "While you're at it why don't you talk about the creepy cat lady that lives on campus? I'm sure she'd practically provoke screams."

Taylor, who had been silent up to that point suddenly snapped at the two girls. "Will you two just shut up? I want to hear her story even if it isn't that scary."

Ellie and Sophie looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to staring at Sophia's phone.

Clearly affected by the arguing Catherine began once more, rather shakily. "Well, the story goes that these two teenagers were together in a car on a lonely road listening to music on the radio. Things get heated and the guy gets a little frisky."

Mackenzie snorted. "Tell me about it." She'd been there more times than she cared to name. For some reason boys just assumed because she was large chested, she was a slut. Often times she had to rely on Bean or Emily to bail her out of the resulting awkward situation.

Catherine nodded even though it was common knowledge she'd only ever had one boyfriend. "Anyway, the girl's okay with it for a while until the music cuts out and there's an announcement over the radio. Apparently this crazy psycho had escaped from a mental institution. The police warned people to contact the authorities if they saw anyone with a hook for a hand." She paused for dramatic effect. Mackenzie found herself enjoying the stupid story despite herself. It wasn't like she wasn't safe here. Heck, she could walk around here in the middle of the night and nothing would happen.

Catherine looked to the faces of her audience and, once she was positive she had their attentions, she continued. "The girl decides she wants to go home. The guy protests but eventually he gives in and drives her home."

"Good for him." muttered Bean sarcastically.

Completely ignoring her, Catherine finished her story. "The girl gets out at her house and goes to the door. The guy is about to leave when he hears an ear-piercing scream. He races to her side to find her staring at her door. On the handle is a bloodied steel hook."

She waits for a minute and then giggles, a sound not quite fitting a girl of her size. "I love that story."

Emily rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. "Oh my god, that story was so totally lame."

Spectra shot the group worried looks. "But stuff like that does happen."

Sophia reached over and patted Spectra's arm. "Look sweetie, it's not our fault you're afraid of your own shadow." She turned her cold dark eyes on Mackenzie and said, "Besides, the stories only get more real."

Ellie stretched her long arms above her head and flashed an evil lopsided grin. "I've got a good story for you and it centers on a place a couple dozen miles from where we go to college."

Sophia nodded. "It's a true story." Mackenzie couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. These girls were always spinning things to fit their purposes. Because the word was ugly, Mackenzie would never have called them liars but she wouldn't have been above saying they only ever told _some_ of the truth.

Ellie plucked Sophia's phone from the smaller girl's fingers and scrolled through something before asking with a smirk, "I hope no one here has anything against cannibals."

Spectra stiffened, probably from fear and muttered, "Can you please not tell a story about that kind of stuff?" From the way her lower lip trembled and her eyes lit up with fear you would have thought she had personal –And bad- experiences with man eaters.

Mackenzie pitied the poor girl but in the end her own curiosity won out. "Shush Spectra, don't be such a mouse." The girl shot Mackenzie a look full of hurt but didn't say anything more.

Ellie stared back at the phone for a second before handing it back to her friend. "The incident happened almost a couple decades back. It started with a certain investigator named Harry Miller."

Sophia tilted her phone so the glare left the audience blinded and cast her face into deep shadows. "He was doing some digging into the mysterious disappearances of eight people. It took a while but eventually he got a good lead that took him to a cabin in the woods, kind of like the one we're staying in."

Emily snorted. "This isn't very scary." Her bold proclamations were betrayed by the way her eyes watched the two girls' faces intently, hanging off their every word. They all were.

Ellie rolled her eyes again. "Trust me, when this happened everyone was terrified, and rightly so." Her voice dropped to a low tenor. "The house belonged to a cannibal."

Mackenzie felt chills run down her spine. Despite being very in tune with what happened around where ever she was she had never heard about this story.

With a serious look in her eyes, Sophia whispered, "The officer found the cannibal too. The guy was sitting at his dining room table eating an arm like it was a drumstick. As soon as he saw the officer the guy took off but the investigator shot him twice before he managed to get away."

Everyone at the fire pit sat absolutely still, save for Spectra who was fidgeting nervously with the sleeves of her coat. Ellie at last moved and searched each of the frightened faces before whispering. "The officer chased the guy down to a nearby creek and managed to shoot him four more times."

With a smirk Sophia said, "He died of course."

A collective breath came from the other girls. Mackenzie hadn't even realized she was holding her breath.

Spectra let out a nervous laugh. "Good story guys, really. But can we please stop talking about this?"

Sophia and Ellie exchanged glances and shrugged. "I guess we've told you everything you wimps can handle." Ellie said with a derisive snort.

Sophia nodded and looked back at her phone. "I don't want you guys to have nightmares or anything."

Taylor groaned and said with a superior tone, "I know you're going to tell us so why don't you just get over with it." Catching eyes with Ellie, Taylor stared unblinking, clearly waiting for Ellie to look away. Sarcastic blue clashed with cold grey until Catherine cleared her throat uncomfortably, breaking both girls concentration.

"Well if you must know…" Sophia said with a sigh. "The truly terrifying thing was what the officer found in the dead cannibals house."

Mackenzie had half a dozen guesses about what had been found, ranging from a corpse to kidnapped people but she held her tongue knowing she would know in a second. Ellie took a breath, regarded the girls then hissed, "He found a child."

Sophia grinned as she whispered, "He found the five year old child of the cannibal. Being the nice officer he was, he adopted the small boy and raised him as his own with no intention of ever mentioning the boy's relation to his cannibalistic father."

Bean raised a finger and asked, with a perplexed expression, "Why is that scary?"

Ellie shrugged. "It wasn't scary until at age eighteen the boy found out the truth about his father. The story's a bit unclear here but rumor is it was due to some mysterious circumstances involving an older brother he had never known existed. After almost dying at the hands of said brother he discovered what happened to his father and was, well, _angry._ "

As she tapped something on her phone screen Sophia muttered, "How would you feel if your entire life was a lie and the person who had constructed that lie was the one responsible for destroying your previous life?" With another flick of her finger she added, "It probably didn't help that he was locked up in a mental hospital because of his brother."

"Outraged, the boy swore to continue what his father had started, you know, after he broke out of the mental hospital. The first person he killed was his adoptive father." Ellie whispered maliciously.

"The kid ate the guy's still beating heart." Sophia muttered disinterestedly. "It was a really grizzly affair, especially because the boy killed his entire adoptive family in the same way."

"What happened to the boy?" Catherine squeaked. "Was he caught?"

With a toss of her hair Ellie shrugged. "He's still out there. No one's caught him yet but people have definitely found the remains of his meals." Making a show of counting on her fingers Ellie added, "He would be about our age now."

"Okay, that's enough about cannibals!" announced Spectra in a tremulous voice. "I really don't want to hear any more stories tonight."

Getting to her feet Ellie gave another lazy shrug. "Fine by me. Hey Soph," The short brunette looked at her friend. "You wanna go back to the house? We have to finish watching Until Dawn."

"Eh, why the fuck not." muttered Sophia before getting to her feet as well.

"C-can I come with you?" asked Spectra with a shiver.

With a deadpan expression Sophia shrugged. "Sure, if anyone wants too, they can come as well. After all, it's almost midnight."

Bean got up with Spectra. "I'm coming to."

Letting out a long sigh Taylor gracefully got to her feet and announced, "I'm coming as well. Catherine, get up, you're coming too."

With an obedient nod Catherine heaved herself to her feet and stood at Taylor's elbow. Turning to Mackenzie and Emily she asked, "Are you guys coming too?"

Emily rolled her eyes but got to her feet anyway. "Yeah, I'm coming."

Everyone turned to look at Mackenzie, waiting for her decision. With a wave and a smile Mackenzie shook her head. "I've got to put the fire out and then I'm going on a walk. You guys can go on without me."

"Suit yourself." Without waiting for anyone else Ellie started down the path, Sophia trailing behind her.

Taylor shot Mackenzie an exasperated look. "Fine, just down wake me up when you come into our room. Unlike you, I value my sanity and my sleep." With a toss of her hair she walked away, the other girls hurrying to follow.

Mackenzie watched them go with a quickly fading smile. Despite the chilling story Ellie and Sophia had told she felt safe in her childhood forest. Nothing bad could possibly happen to her here. After dousing the sputtering coals of the campfire Mackenzie wandered off into the night, completely at ease.

The darkness swallowed her form whole as it disappeared into the trees.

 **A/N: I'm going to be completely honest; having so much support so early in a story is rather nerve wracking. Don't get me wrong I'm honored that so many people like my story but at the same time,** ** _pressure!_** **I just hope I can meet everyone's expectations…**


	3. Unexpected Outcomes

**A/N: Back to school! Not happy, not even a little bit. As everyone knows my updates are going to be coming at a snail's pace now. Please don't kill me, I'm still writing I promise.**

 **On to the story! Enjoy!**

 _Slenderman_

A long drawn out sigh escaped Slenderman as he felt the weight of the new house weigh on his mind. Carrying something that size always put a strain on him for the first few days. After a while however, he simply learned to ignore its burden.

His only hope was that the cabin did not react badly to being lifted into a different level of reality. Distinct recollections of lifting the mansion the CreepyPastas currently resided in came to mind and if Slenderman had possessed the inclination to, he would have smiled. If memory served correctly, the third floor of the mansion had taken a leave of absence for two weeks after transportation. Chances were high that similar things would occur in the cabin.

Allowing his mind to wander, Slender's thoughts drifted to the game itself. Technically, it had officially started precisely five minutes ago but he doubted any Pastas would be showing their faces at the cabin for at least a half an hour just to be certain the game had truly begun. Slenderman found that he had no such qualms because he _knew_ the game had begun.

Rested against the obligatory pen well that resided upon his desk sat the picture of Bean. Unwillingly, Slender found himself staring at the girl once more. As a general rule, Slenderman found all humans loathsome. The other Pastas did not quite share in his opinion all of the time but then, most of them still had lingering ties to their humanity. Unlike them, Slenderman had never been human so he had no reason to feel any sympathy for the useless creatures.

Yet he was intrigued by the very human he had been given to kill. _It would be better,_ he reasoned, tracing the girl's face with a long white digit, _to just kill her now before things have a chance to get complicated._ It was the logical way to proceed with things after all.

With a delicate touch, Slenderman cast a mental web out over the mansion's residents, set on ensnaring two particular individuals. Once he had their attention he merely told them to come to his office before releasing them again. Tapping his fingers on his almost empty oak desk, Slenderman waited with unnerving patience for the objects of his interest to knock on the door. At his nod the doors swung in of their own accord to reveal two figures.

Masky stepped into the room's interior, followed quickly by Hoodie. For a moment, Slender regarded them coolly, as if waiting for them to speak. When they did not he chose to break the silence.

"I am going out." Simple words for simple intentions. Slender saw no reason to tell his proxies _where_ he was going; only that it would not be _here_ but _there._ Although he could tell them more, he liked to keep things very straightforward and uncomplicated. It made everything easier.

Swiftly, Slender plucked Bean's picture from his desk and stowed it in his suit. Getting to his feet he stood towering over Masky and Hoodie, looming but not ominous. "Do not let Jeffrey burn the house down while I am gone." With those simple words he winked out of existence.

The barest fraction of a second later he reappeared in an unfamiliar forest. In a slow deliberate fashion, Slenderman surveyed his surroundings. Towering trees and thick undergrowth reminded him of his own forest. The two, after all, had been one in the same for years before he had lifted his own mansion away.

As his gaze fell on the dimly lit cabin before him, Slenderman's thoughts curled into a smile. If he chose to, he could teleport there but instead he chose to walk down to the house, slipping behind trees and generally blending in with his surroundings. As he neared the log cabin he started slipping his mind from the typical layer of reality and into a higher one.

It was one made to see auras. This worked best when Slender had complete control of the dimension he was in, like this one but he could typically do it on a smaller scale whenever he desired. With a gentle caressing touch Slenderman lighted upon each soul in the house before him as he continued to draw closer. As always, the flickers of humans glared at him in sickening white, a sharp contrast to the auras of the monsters he usually spent time around.

Five of the humans appeared to be asleep. He needed only to glance at their minds to know they were not who he was ultimately looking for. Focusing on the two conscience people he spent more time puzzling over their auras. The first was a pale and flickering blue light that seemed to waver in and out of existence. If he was any judge of character, that was not Bean.

Moving back to reality for a moment he positioned himself beside a tall fir tree and grew absolutely still. Sensing someone moving closer to the side of the house he was watching, Slenderman reached out his mental net and cast it over the girl. At once he knew he had found Bean. The girl's aura was something of an enigma to Slender. For one, he felt like he had sensed it before although he was absolutely certain he had never had any contact with a girl named Bean before. For another, her light seemed to be at war.

Most humans possessed a white aura by default. If the child was not quite human, the aura could be a variety of colors. Monsters and other evils typically possessed a dark or black aura. Bean's aura was unlike anything Slenderman had ever witnessed. It seemed to be fighting with itself, split into two separate parts. One was of the darkest velvet night and the other was the most blinding sunny day. Watching her aura was like watching was like watching the king of Hell and the queen of Heaven do battle in the girl's heart.

For the first time in his entire existence, Slenderman found himself reluctant to kill a human. Something about this girl intrigued him and that feeling only grew more pronounced the longer he examined her.

And yet, he had to kill her. It was his job and he could not suddenly decide not to perform the simple task he had been carrying out for time in memorial. As the girl drew closer he consoled himself with the knowledge that she was most likely _inside_ the house and so he would not have the chance to kill her anyhow. Coming back to the normal plane of existence Slenderman waited for the urge to not kill the girl to pass and for her to pass out of his immediate vicinity.

As the girl drew closer Slender attempted to convince himself that killing the girl would be the best thing to do. _If she runs,_ he thought darkly, _it will be all the simpler._ If she happened to be outside and saw him, there was little doubt that she would run. When that happened, he would let instinct take over and just kill her. But, if she was indeed inside, he would just leave. With his mind made up, Slenderman delved back into the realm of auras and tried to place the vague memory of Bean's aura.

He could almost hear a certain demon rasping in his ear about a curious girl but then the memory escaped and Slenderman was left floundering again. Disgusted by his own curiosity concerning a _human_ Slenderman stopped wondering and pulled himself from that reality and into the visible one.

What he found froze his mind and left him shocked into inaction. A girl was standing by the side of the house, staring at him with ocean blue eyes. The words _kill her_ drifted through his mind but Slenderman could not bring himself to move in the presence of his supposed victim.

Bean shivered as she stood before Slender. She wore only leggings and a hoodie that was pulled up to hide her rust stained blond hair. Her lips were parted open in an expression -not of fear- but of wonder. Slowly, so slowly that she seemed to hardly move at all, Bean took a step towards Slenderman.

That was wrong; this was not supposed to happen. She was supposed to run away but she only drew closer. As he watched in silence, Bean continued towards him, stretching out her hand as if to touch him. Slenderman found himself willing her to run, run so he could chase. Run so he could kill, but he found her resisting his attempts to push her away.

At last she drew level with Slenderman. Still looking at him with wonder in those big blue eyes, she tilted her head back to stare up at his face with intense curiosity. Oddly enough, two points seemed to grow on Beans head, almost like she had sprouted horns. Unable to resist the pull of gravity any longer, her hood fell away to reveal two rusty colored fox ears, each tipped in a tuft of white.

Seeming not to notice the fact she had suddenly grown ears Bean whispered, "Who- What are you?" As the words left her mouth she closed the distance between them with her small hand and touched Slenderman's suit jacket. From behind her something bushy and russet colored unfurled itself and curled around her legs.

It was a tail.

Suddenly, Slenderman, the monster who had always been a primordial predator, felt an overwhelming desire –need- to run. Sending a loud burst of static into the night air, he winked out of existence.

* * *

 _Bean_

The perfect silence of the night is broken by an unearthly screeching sound. Perhaps it could have been loosely described as static but it felt more like someone dragging their nails across the chalkboard of her mind. Bean would have cringed and covered her ears but somehow the pain was so great that she was left frozen from the shock of the flash migraine.

As soon as the pain arrived it was gone and with it, the tall black suited creature that had been standing before Bean. For a moment, she wondered if she had somehow imagined the monster-for that was surely what it had been-but no, the warmth she had felt when her fingers had met him was still there. Standing there, all she could do was wonder what she had just met. It had possessed a humanoid shape but it hadn't been human. It had been too tall and its face had been devoid of any features.

Bean couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't run away when she'd first seen the man. She had always had a knack for sensing evil in something and the monster had been practically pulsing vile intent and yet she had gone and touched him. Even when almost every brain cell she possessed had been yelling at her to flee she had clung to the single area of irrationality she had and had followed its direction.

The monster had wanted to kill her, she had felt it, but instead it had merely stood there, why? Why had he vanished? Frustration welled up within her and she ran her hands through her hair. Numb fingers met soft fur and she cursed softly in to the night.

"Shit." No, they couldn't be back. She had gotten so good at controlling them, so good that Bean hadn't had an 'accident' in years. Slowly she looked down and saw her tail curling around her cold legs. Self-loathing consumed her as she ran her hands over her soft fox ears. These were one of the reasons she couldn't be normal.

Bean rubbed her arms, trying to bring back circulation as she wished with all her heart that she had been born normal. Her foster father had tried so hard to fix her. Beating and yelling at her until she wanted to die. When she was young her ears and tail used to appear all the time, brought out by her inquisitive nature. For seven years she had been brutally punished for being different so she had spent the rest of her life quelling her curiosity and learning to be normal.

It had been too late of course. At that point her foster family had refused to put her in school for fear of what people would think about her. Short of 'corrective' surgery, they had done everything to make her just like everyone else. In the process they had taught her to hate herself. _Congratulations_ Bean thought bitterly _you succeeded in making me wish I had never been born._

Even though she was going to college now and had friends, she didn't feel comfortable in her own skin. She was terrified that someone would find out and she'd be labeled a freak again and have to leave. She was sick of running.

Shivering violently, Bean slowly made her way back to the front door of the house. She knew that her tail could be used to warm her chilled limbs but she denied use of it. Giving in would be tantamount to admitting defeat to her strangeness. She would die before she ever again acknowledged and accepted her unwanted ears and tail.

As she padded along, occasionally stumbling over a small rock or a fallen branch, she contemplated telling her friends about the monster. Since birth she had always happened across unexplainable creatures and people. A bitter smile twisted her lips, tinted blue with cold, as she remembered how badly some of those crazy people had screwed her over. Physical scars would heal with time but heartache never went away.

No, she wouldn't reveal to her friends that she was completely crazy. Bean didn't need to complicate things with what she had seen. Because the man hadn't hurt her, she was relatively confident that her friends had nothing to fear. As she stepped into the warm interior of the cabin and quietly shut the door behind her she froze with the terror of discovery.

Turning, she found that the main room behind her was blessedly empty of anyone. Feet absolutely silent, Bean crept to her hallway and stared towards the room she shared with Spectra. Vague memories of Spectra not being in bed when Bean had decided to go on her moonlight stroll caused her stomach to do a slow barrel roll. If Spectra were in the room there was a good chance she would wake up and see Bean in her compromised state.

Throwing caution to the wind Bean pulled her hood up to hide her ears and peered around the frame of her doorway into the bedroom. A sigh of relief escaped her as she hurried over to her bed and climbed into it, not even bothering to take her hoodie off. Reminiscent of the warmth she had felt pulsing from the mysterious man monster, the soft covers soon brought the warmth back into her frozen limbs.

Pressing herself as far into her bed as she could, Bean pulled the blankets over her head and shut her eyes tight, praying for everything to be normal in the morning. Of course she was only lying to herself.

She would never be normal.

* * *

 _Catherine_

Catherine sat in her bed, shivering despite her natural warm blooded tendencies. This wasn't from lack of exhaustion rather; it was from the simple fact that every time her head hit the pillow the thought of cannibals snapped it back up again. Most scary stories only made her laugh but something about the way those two girls had told it was still sending shivers down her back.

Perhaps it was the fact that the story had hit so close to home for her. Her mother's sister had been one of the victims of the very cannibal the story had been about. She could laugh it off all she wanted but at the end of the day, Catherine knew the story wasn't just tale and that's why she couldn't sleep. Truth was usually scarier than fiction after all.

Clearly the other girls weren't having the same concerns. Emily slept across from the plump girl, face sill wrinkled in characteristic disgust. Catherine tried to console herself with the fact that there was another person in the room with her. Usually that worked to calm people down when they were scared, right. Pallor returned to her face as she realized that if someone did try to kill them, the fact that Emily was there wouldn't be much of a deterrent. It wasn't like the killer would say, 'Ooh an Asian, I'm so scared' and leave.

Thinking that talking might calm her down, Catherine decided to wake up her roommate. "Emily." She whispered annoyed at herself for how wimpy she was being.

"W-what is it?" Emily groaned and sat up in bed.

In a small voice Catherine whimpered, "I'm scared."

"Oh my god, did you really wake me up because you were _scared_?" Emily sounds dumbfounded. Her face is scrunched into angry disbelief.

"Y-yeah." Stammered Catherine, suddenly realizing how stupid she was for thinking that Emily would care at all. "I'm just s-scared of the cannibal story…" She trailed off and fell silent in the face of Emily's scorn.

Instead of comforting the girl or even just ignoring her, Emily cackled softly and sing-songed, "You should be! After all, a fat girl like you would be way tastier than any thin person. I'm sure you would look like a walking buffet to a cannibal." Shivers tag teamed up and down Catherine's spine as she realized the truth in what Emily was saying.

"I-I'm not going to get eaten!" She squeaked out, thoughts of her aunt's funeral and the empty casket running through her mind.

"Mmmhm. You just keep telling yourself that Ren honey." With an exaggerated yawn Emily put her head back down on the pillow. "As for me, I'm going to bed. Don't you dare wake me up." With that she closed her eyes and pretended to sleep for all she was worth.

At this point, Catherine was too far gone to even begin to contemplate sleep. Curling up as much as possible, she rocked back and forth for a few minutes, jumping at every crack and squeak. She wanted to sleep but her fear kept her from dropping off.

A small thought brought Catherine's terrified thoughts to a halt. She _could_ just go talk to Taylor…

Most people would have yelled at her, informing her of the poor life choices she was about to make. Wouldn't Taylor be furious with her for something this stupid? People could think that if they wanted to. Catherine had long since given up on convincing them otherwise because Taylor was right. As long as she knew, it didn't matter what everyone else thought.

Because of how much like a slave Taylor treated Catherine, most people just assumed that Catherine always got the short end of the stick and was the victim in the 'friendship'. While it was true that she acted like Taylor's slave it was equally true that she did this out of choice not because Taylor was forcing her. Ever since becoming Taylor's friend Catherine had gone from the fat girl that everyone teased to the girl people treated almost like Taylor's equal. In other words, very well indeed. Sure she still suffered the occasional torment but at least she had friends and whenever something bad happened to her, Taylor was always there to comfort her.

To make a complicated relationship simple, Catherine knew without a shadow of a doubt, that if she woke Taylor up, Tay wouldn't turn the plump girl away, she would comfort her. That was why, a second later, Catherine was creeping down the hallway to the bedroom Taylor shared with Mackenzie, praying that she wouldn't wake anyone else up in the process.

Hesitating for the second it took to wonder if Mackenzie would be upset if she ended up getting woken up, Catherine opened the door to the master bedroom and crept inside.

Despite being the master bedroom, the large space contained not one but _two_ massive four poster beds one on each side of the room. Each was draped in thick velvet curtains that separated the sleeper from the rest of the world. Knowing that Taylor always chose the one on the left because it was closer to the vent and therefore the heat, Catherine padded over too her veiled friend and whispered, "Taylor?" even though she knew that Tay wouldn't be able to hear her through the fabric.

Gently, she reached out and drew back the curtain even as she whispered, "Taylor I can't sleep and I'm scared." As her eyes adjusted to the darker black of the tented bed, Catherine noticed that Taylor was still curled up beneath the plush covers and probably couldn't hear her. Reaching over to the lump of blankets she judged to be her friend Catherine tentatively poked and whispered, "Please Tay, I'm scared."

Oddly enough, the lump gave way in a manner that didn't match a human. Confused, Catherine pulled back the covers to find a few pillows, not Taylor. As her eyes traveled along the bed, her eyes were drawn to a dark splotch on the white satin sheets. Touching it, Catherine found that it was strangely sticky. Determined to get a better look, Catherine climbed onto the bed and crouched there, rocking precariously as she examined the stain. Putting her nose close to it, she smelled the unmistakable odor of blood.

Shock coursed through her and Catherine forgot that she was trying to balance on the edge of Taylor's bed. Flailing to try and get a handhold on something, she somehow found the gap in the curtains and tumbled off of the bed, hitting her head in the process. Her senses scrambled as her head throbbed angrily. Slowly her surroundings fell back into place and she became gradually more aware of what was going on, namely the wetness soaking through the back of her thin nightgown.

The overpowering scent of copper flooded her nostrils as she turned her head to see what she had landed in. Blossoming around her body was a thick puddle of blood. For a moment Catherine was terrified that it was _her_ blood staining the floor but reason dismissed this idea. There was too much of it to have just come out of her, besides, she didn't feel any strange pains except for her throbbing head. With a dreadful curiosity, Catherine's eyes wandered upwards, to the stream of blood running down the wall and the vent, clearly forced open. A single pale hand dangled from the dark recess.

It was the dead hand of Taylor.

A loud long ear piercing wail broke the silent night air. Catherine desperately wished the person would stop screaming before she realized she was the one making the dreadful noise. What was worse she couldn't stop. Her best and sometimes only friend in the world was dead and her body had been stuffed into an air vent. The only course of action she could take was to wail at the top over her lungs in mental agony.

The caterwauling echoed off the walls and permeated every square foot of the house. Quickly, Catherine found herself running out of air. Her lungs were expelling her breaths faster than she could suck them in. Vision darkening due to the lack of oxygen, Catherine finally could scream no more.

It was then that she passed out.

* * *

 _Clockwork_

As the screams finally ended, Clockwork turned to her boyfriend Toby and gave him a high-five before both of them started cackling so hard that tears began to run down Clockworks face.

"Beautiful." Clockwork laughed, wiping a tear from her one good eye. "Absolutely fucking beautiful."

Ticci Toby nodded in agreement. "Let's see Jeff and Jane follow _that_ performance."

Together they winked out of the cabin's dimension as their own called them home.

 **A/N: I like killing characters. It leaves me with a strange satisfaction.**

 **Thanks to IamDeadGhost for nagging me (In a very nice way) to finish the story. You're a huge help when it comes to stuffing bodies into vents.**


	4. Well, She Appears to be Dead

**A/N: SO, IamDeadGhost is** _ **officially**_ **helping with this story! I think that means he gets the title of CHIEF EDITOR/IDEAS GENERATOR or something like that…**

 **The point is, he's helping.**

 **Anyway's, enjoy!**

 _Ellie_

Ellie stood in front of the bleeding vent and unconscious Catherine with mild interest. Sophia was casually drawing smiley faces in the pool of blood on the floor that had probably come from Taylor. Kneeling down Ellie doodled the words, _why so serious?_ into the blood before wiping them away.

"It looks like murder." Muttered Sophia as she got to her feet and stood on tiptoe in a vain attempt to see inside the vent.

With a snort of laughter Ellie asked with a malicious edge, "Would you like me to hold you up so you can see inside or would it be better if I found a stepstool?"

Sophia glared at her friend. "Fuck off."

"You know, I always though Mackenzie would die first." Ellie said in reference to her black friend.

"Me too." Agreed Sophia. "Who do you think did it?"

Rising and casually leaning against the bed that had, until recently held the deceased Taylor, Ellie crossed her arms and commented "Probably a cannibal, but she didn't have enough meat on her so they just stuffed her away." in a practiced deadpan.

Glancing at her taller friend Sophia was quiet for a moment before muttering, "Lol."

Snickering at her own joke, Ellie nudged Catherine with a toe. "How are we gonna move her?" Fixing her tiny friend with a very serious look she said, "If you try to pick her up, she'd probably crush you."

With a sigh Sophia sat down on the unconscious Catherine's stomach. "What I'm wondering is how we're gonna get our darling Tay Tay out of the vent." She did raise a good point. Ellie wasn't quite sure if Mackenzie had a ladder in the house and she highly doubted that anyone would volunteer to pull a corpse out of the wall.

"Yeah, she looks like she's wedged in there pretty well." Scanning the surroundings Ellie spotted a bloodstained knife lying on the bedside table. Pushing off the fourposter, she moved to pick it up. After weighing it in her hand for a moment, she tossed it into the air and caught it again. "Found the weapon." Ellie said casually as she flipped it into the air again.

"Cool, I wonder how many times they had to stab her before she died." Sophia asked in an uninterested drawl. "I mean, if it had been Spectra she'd have probably died of fear before the first stab but this is Taylor we're talking about. She was a tough nut."

"Unless you broke one of her nails. She would have done half the work for the killers if that happened." Ellie muttered sarcastically. "So, without looking at the body, I'll bet you five dollars she's been stabbed over twenty five times." Both the girls loved to bet on everything from video games to relationships. Apparently, dead bodies were no different.

The sound of the door behind them being thrown open interrupted the girl's game. "I heard screaming." The uncertain and worried tone of Bean's voice came from around the beds. "Is everything alright?"

"Well gee Bean," Ellie said with a sigh at the obvious stupidity of her question as she stashed the probable murder weapon in her pocket. "I don't know. Maybe Catherine was screaming bloody murder because she saw a kitty."

"Or maybe she saw Emily without her makeup." Sophia suggested.

As Bean rounded the corner, Ellie took her friends appearance in. She wore an oversized bathrobe that probably didn't belong to her. Underneath the huge robe she still wore her hoodie for reasons Ellie couldn't imagine. At the sight of Taylor dead and Catherine unconscious, Bean whimpered and stumbled backwards. "Oh my god…" She whispered in horror. "Is that Taylor in the vent?"

Sophia appeared confused at her friend's reaction. "Yeah, why?" She trailed her fingers in the pool of blood beneath Catherine and muttered, "It's not like she's a zombie or anything."

Bean took another few steps back and ran into Makenzie's empty bed. "Has anyone called the police? You t-two shouldn't be touching the body, you're messing with the evidence. Y-you could get in serious trouble."

Ellie exchanged a look with Sophia and shrugged. "You can try calling the police but it won't do any good." Ellie said frankly. "We already tried. Nothing."

"W-what do you mean nothing? W-what did you two d-do?" Bean's hands shook violently as she tugged on her hood.

With a groan Sophia rolled her large brown eyes and muttered for Ellie's benefit, "I'll take that bet. Ten dollars that it took less than ten good hacks to finish her off." At last getting to her feet, Sophia walked over to Bean. Leaning forward in a manner that Ellie recognized as intense scrutiny, she looked the frightened girl up and down. "So, what's with the robe?"

Seeming to forget all about the bodies before her, Bean clutched at the robe, drawing it tighter around her thin frame. "It's cold." She mumbled.

Quickly turning to Ellie, Sophia briefly raised her eyebrows as way of displaying her suspicion before turning back to Bean. "You must be suffering from a flash freeze or something if you actually need both a hoodie and a bathrobe."

"Um… I-" Bean clearly was having some trouble forming complete sentences.

"What's wrong Bean, getting _cold feet_ after killing Taylor? Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all, huh?" Ellie asked, chuckling at her own pun.

Fear was replaced with outrage as Bean yelled, "I didn't kill Taylor! I had nothing against her whatsoever!" Perhaps it was a bit quick of Ellie, but she believed Bean. After all, she _didn't_ have a motive and she didn't seem like the type of girl to go stabbing people for no reason. If anything, that would have been Ellie's job.

"Excuses excuses." Sophia muttered turning away from Bean and returning to her place atop Catherine's stomach. "If you're truly innocent you have nothing to fear."

Grumbling from outside the master bedroom brought Ellie to attention. All kidding aside, someone _had_ killed Taylor and Ellie felt like it would be a waste of a perfectly good murder if she didn't try to solve it. Besides, with the internet down, she had nothing better to do.

"What is all the screaming for?" Complained a tired sounding Emily as she shuffled into the room. "Your screams are loud enough to wake the dead."

"Too bad that didn't work for Taylor." Muttered Ellie from the corner of her mouth. Sophia snorted then schooled her face into one of Idon'tgiveashit as Emily moved around the beds.

"What are you three doing?" She asked in a nasally voice that she probably got from wrinkling nose her at everything she saw.

"Oh, you know, we were just betting on how many times Tay Tay got stabbed before she died." Sophia drawled. "What were you doing Emily?"

"What the fuck are you- OH MY FUCKING GOD!" Emily fell over in shock before scuttling backwards away from the blood. "You killed Catherine!"

"Relax." Sighed Sophia. "She's just unconscious. Taylor on the other hand…"

Emily's eyes traveled upwards and she choked slightly at the sight of Taylor's dead hand. "Did you murder her?" She demanded wildly.

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Too much work." She complained. "We were actually wondering if you did."

Taken aback at the suggestion Emily blustered, "Why would _I_ want to kill her?"

"I don't know," Sophia wined. "Because you're Asian and you don't like white girls."

"Fuck you!" Emily shot back in anger. "You two are the worst. Ask Catherine when she wakes up, I didn't kill Taylor."

"Catherine might be in on it." Muttered Bean numbly. "After all, Taylor didn't exactly treat her well."

Emily opened her mouth to object then seemed to change her mind. "Yeah, Tay wasn't the nicest person ever…"

Sounds from downstairs halted all further speculation. With a sigh Sophia sprawled across Catherine, not seeming to mind that her hair was dragging in the congealing blood, and announced, "And the elusive double D's return! What you wanna bet Kenzie did it?" Ellie glanced down at her tiny friend and had the sudden urge to sit on her. Perhaps it was the inner cat in her talking…

"But then it wouldn't be cliched." She complained loudly. "Everyone knows that the white one kills and the black one dies, not the other way around."

"Are you guys still awake?" Called their friend from below. "It's gotta be, like, three in the morning already."

"Well, it's kind of hard to sleep through ear piercing screams Kenzie." Ellie yelled back.

Immediately a flurry of footfalls harroled the swift approach of their green eyed friend. "Oh my god." Mackenzie said in a worried tone. "Did someone get hurt? Should I call an ambulance or something?"

As she rounded the big four posters, Ellie scoffed. "Don't bother, just call the coroner." Mackenzie's eyes went from great round orbs of worry to eyes full of pure horror and utter terror.

"W-wah? Is t-that…?" Mackenzie slowly walked forward towards Ellie and Sophia, eyes fixed on the vent in a sort of morbid fascination. Lower lip beginning to tremble she halted just short of the pooling blood and merely stared. "Taylor?"

"Ding ding ding!" Ellie announced, miming ringing a bell. "You got it first try Kenzie!" Her typically bouncy friend had tears pouring down her face, ruining her makeup and generally making a mess of things. A flash of confusion ran through Ellie's mind as she considered her friends reactions. Why were they acting so upset over one little body?

"Y-you should probably get off of Catherine." Whispered Mackenzie to Sophia as she stood there, shaking.

"Why bother. She can't feel it." Sophia reasoned before tapping her chin, leaving smears of blood behind her fingers. "I feel like we're missing something…"

Ellie surveyed her frightened looking friends. _Something isn't here that should be… Not you, not you, not you AHA!_ "Where's our darling Spectra?" Asked Ellie. "Bean, you room with her, where is she?"

Clearly upset by the attention of the room suddenly focusing on her, Bean opened and closed her mouth like a dying fish before squeaking. "I- I don't know."

"She seems to be the only person unaccounted for." Sophia announced lazily as she got to her feet to stand at Ellie's elbow (because she couldn't reach anything higher).

"It's probably her." Muttered Ellie. "Now all we have to do is find her."

"I'm not doing it." Sophia said immediately, throwing her hands in the air.

Ellie made an incredulous noise. "I'm not doing it either!" Faced with Sophia's death glare she relented. There was only one way to solve these problems. Drawing a penny out of her pocket Ellie said, "Heads, I'll go. Tails, you get to go find our lovely lost girl."

"Fine." Fast fingers snatched the coin from Ellie's hand and, before she could protest, flipped the coin. Sophia caught it and slapped it down on her arm. "Heads. Looks like you have to go find Blue."

Sophia smirked as Ellie rolled her eyes and walked past the confused and frozen girls to the door to the hall. Staring out at the dark gloom of the rest of the house Ellie furrowed her brow and yelled, "Yo Spectra! Get over here!" Nothing happened.

"Shit." Ellie was, by nature a lazy creature. Looking for someone who was probably a cold blooded murderer completely went against her nature. For one, it was work and for another, the murderer generally had enough motivation to find their victims first.

But, she didn't really see much of an option. It would beat listening to Mackenzie freaking out and Bean whimpering. Casually pulling the murder weapon she had found earlier out of her pocket she made her way downstairs. The little annoying voice in Ellie's head informed her that this was what every person in _any_ horror flick did but that little voice in her head was also meowing intermittently so she wasn't about to stop and think about what she was doing.

 _Pssht!_ Only smart people did that. As she crept into the large den Ellie happened to glance up at the large vaguely sinister looking mirror that hung above the fireplace. It reflected back a perfect, if backward, image of the room she was standing in.

Well, if it weren't for the fact that she was missing from the image. Stopping before the mirror, Ellie waved her hands above her head, half expecting to just reappear. She didn't.

"Huh…" Shrugging Ellie continued on. This was really turning into a horror movie. Now all that was needed would be the killer to jump out with a machete or chainsaw and kill her! Actually waiting for a few seconds to see if it would happen, Ellie decided to try the last possible thing to summon whatever was going to kill her. "Yo Spectra, I found your knife!" Calling out to a friend always killed you faster.

"Why do you keep on shouting? I don't have a knife." Ellie resisted the urge to be ironically stereotypical and scream like the stupid blond chick in every horror movie and instead turned around lazily. Spectra shut the back door behind her and walked towards Ellie slowly. "What's going on?"

"We wanted to ask you the same question." Ellie and Spectra both looked up to see Sophia leaning over the banister, a cold look on her eerily illuminated face. "Where have you been for the past ninety minutes Spectra?"

"I- I was outside." She stammered, retreating into the shadows as if frightened.

"Sure you were, hiding the bloodstained clothes." Ellie said with a snort.

"Okay you two this is getting ridiculous." Bean came storming out of Taylor's room, obviously furious. "Leave Spectra alone, she didn't do anything."

"Oh?" Sophia walked past Bean's fuming figure. "If you 'didn't do anything' Spectra, then I'm sure you'll be comfortable telling us what you _were_ doing."

"Just shut up!" Bean lunged out and grabbed Sophia's shoulder spinning her around. Ellie instinctively started towards the stairs, unwilling to let her short friend get hurt. Spectra shrunk back farther, stuffing something that Ellie immediately recognized as a cellphone into the pocket of her hoodie.

"Who were you calling Blue?" Ellie asked, voice soft and menacing.

"No one!" Spectra whispered. "Why are you guys acting like this?"

"Only because you killed Taylor!" Sophia shouted from above.

Spectra's face transformed into a mask of shock. "Taylor's dead?"

Ellie snorted. "Don't act like you don't already know, you were obviously the one who killed her."

Without paying attention to her words, Spectra ran past Ellie heading for the stairs. Ellie didn't bother chasing her. It was obvious where her destination was. Bean, who still had a hold on Sophia watched her run past, a worried expression on her face.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Ellie walked back to her midget of a friend and, after stowing the bloody knife back in her pocket, shoved the startled Bean away. Sophia's only thanks was another stony glare.

As Ellie and Sophia strode back into the master bedroom she drawled, "Now do you believe she's dead, or do we have to drag her out of there for you to examine first?" Spectra just stood in front of the still unconscious Catherine and the dead Taylor, completely silent.

Ellie walked up behind the blue haired girl and delicately suggested, "Why don't you stare at them some more. I'm sure if you wish really _really_ hard, Tay Tay will just _magically_ come back to life."

Without warning Spectra spun around and slapped Ellie across the face, her own features contorting in rage. "You're sick. How can you just joke around like that?" She asked, livid. "Your friend is _dead_ and you're treating this like a fucking game!"

Ellie just stared at Spectra, unsure if she'd heard her right. Wasn't Spectra just a timid little mouse?  
Mice didn't usually slap that hard…

"Calm down Spectra." Mackenzie begged from behind the two girls.

"I'm leaving." Spectra mumbled suddenly, and stepped around Ellie, quickly exiting the room. Bean quickly hurried after her small friend, long robe still swishing behind her.

Everyone was silent for a moment, unsure of what to do next.

At last Sophia broke the quiet with a loud snort. "Well that could have gone better."

* * *

 _Jane_

 _Drawing straws be damned_ Jane thought mutinously as she slunk through the dark forest, so much like the one she lived in. _If I want to kill my girl on the same night that Clockwork and Toby kill theirs, then I should be able to._ And if she wanted to go without Jeff, then that's just what she'd do.

The bastard would only slow her down anyway.

As she crept along her thoughts circled around how she was going to kill the Asian chick, what had her name been, Amy? Emmie? Emily? Yeah, Emily sounded right. This entire enterprise was so typical of Jeff. Only _he_ wasn't content with just killing people, no he wasn't content until he made a game of it. _Let's see if we can kill the sorority girls!_

Despite all her gripping though, Jane knew she would enjoy herself. She always did, not that she'd ever tell Jeff that. He had a big enough ego without her inflating it further. Still, she had to hand it to him, Jeff really knew how to get Slenderman to allow them to all do stupid things.

While it could be said that Jane the Killer couldn't stand her boyfriend Jeff the Killer, it could also be said that she couldn't stand to be without him. They had an odd relationship that consisted of wild arguments that ended in them either trying to kill each other or heatedly making out. Some said it was dysfunctional but Jane didn't mind. She liked it that way and Jeff seemed to as well.

As she reached the edge of a steep embankment on one side of the dirt path that cut through the woods, Jane stared out and could see the cabin twinkling in the distance. Judging by the number of lights on the girls had probably found their first body. How long would it be before they tried to get help? Would they even try at all? Sorority girls were notoriously stupid…

Without warning, a warm arm snaked around her waist and a low chuckle tickled the back of her neck as Jeff rasped, "I think you forgot something princess." With a low growl Jane drew her arm forward and slammed it back into his gut. Coughing, Jeff released her and stepped back, grin already reforming on his face.

"Fuck off Jeff, I didn't invite you." She growled softly. "If you want to wait your _turn_ to go killing, that's _you're_ choice not _mine_."

Spreading his arms wide Jeff asked, "Did I ever try to stop you?"

Snorting, Jane started back down the dirt path. "You'll only get in my way."

"Funny, I was going to say the same thing about you." Commented Jeff dryly.

Turning to walk backwards so she could glare at Jeff, Jane scoffed. "I'm perfectly capable of killing you right now and if you don't shut up I-" Her words stopped abruptly her foot met nothing and she started to tip over backwards.

Moving faster than she would have thought possible, Jeff lunged for her and caught her around the waist, abruptly halting her fall. Nose to nose with her, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "Starting to see I'm not so useless now Princess?"

Repressing the strange desire to kiss him, Jane hissed, "Fine, you win this one. Would you mind letting me go now?"

He complied, pulling her up to solid ground and then moving back. Sighing, Jane pinched the bridge of her nose and asked, "If I let you come, will you promise to stop acting so…" She waved her other hand around expressively, trying to find a word that accurately described just how annoyed Jeff made her.

"Jeff like?" He supplied with a laugh. "Come on Jane, stop complaining, we have an asian to kill!"

"Has anybody ever told you that you're incredibly racist?" Jane asked as she hurried to catch up.

"Has anybody ever told _you_ that I don't care?" Jeff shot back as he drew his knife and flipped it in the air lazily.

"Yes actually, many times." Jane grumbled as she fell in step with her incredibly annoying boyfriend.

"Then why do you keep trying to make me care?" He asked in bafflement.

"I don't know, maybe because I hope that you'll wake up one day and magically start to." Jane responded sarcastically. When Jeff gave her a confuddled look, Jane threw her hands up in the air. "You know what, you're insufferable."

"I know someone who's even more insufferable." Jeff remarked with a grin.

Laughing at how bad his comeback was Jane mocked, "Oh, let me guess, me?"

"If you want to be conceited that's your deal." Jeff said with a superior smirk. "I was thinking of Drunk Jane."

 _Oh he did_ not _just go there. Low blow Jeff, low blow._ "That was, like, ages ago. It's not my fault I can't tolerate alcohol." Jane protested hotly.

"Last time you got drunk you tried to _kill_ me." He pointed out.

"Do you remember _why_ I tried to kill you?" Jane growled back. _That_ painful memory was still fresh in her mind.

"Fair enough." Jeff muttered, a guilty look crossing his face.

Satisfied that she had won the argument Jane smirked and mused, "That was a while ago."

"Yeah." Jeff agreed. "I remember those days."

"Yeah…" They both looked at each other before quickly looking down, clearly thinking of the same thing.

As they at last reached the final stretch to the house, Jeff spoke. "So, how are we going to do this?"

"Carefully." Jane advised. Looking up at the various lit windows she started to wonder if this was going to turn out to be a bad idea after all. If everyone was awake, the chances of them killing someone undetected were almost nonexistent. "Shit," She muttered as she started darting between the trees nearest to the house. "This is all you're fault."

"My fault?" Jeff hissed. "As I recall, it was _you_ who decided to yell 'fuck the rules' and come here tonight."

"You never tried to stop me!" Jane grumbled.

A loud slam startled both of them into silence. Before them, a dark figure left the cabin and stalked away into the woods. Moments later another figure hurried out of the door after the first one.

"Come on, look at me!" The second figure pleaded. "Please, they're just trying to deal with the fact that one of our friends died. They don't mean anything bad."

"Shut up Bean!" Yelled the first girl. "Aren't you just a little disturbed that they're laughing right after Taylor was butchered and shoved in a vent?" Jeff nudged Jane and mouthed 'This was a bad idea'. Resisting the urge to punch him, Jane put a finger to her lips and turned back to the arguing girls.

"I can't believe you're acting like this!" Bean yelled incredulously. "I stuck up for you! Truth is, you're the most suspicious person here Spectra."

Spinning to face her friend, Spectra yelled, "I don't care what they think Bean. Most of them are stuck up idiots that I can't stand. Don't start acting like them."

Bean's figure backed up uncertainly towards the house. "I-I'm not. I'm just worried about you Spectra. You don't usually act like this."

"I'm stressed, okay." Spectra walked past her friend to the door and said, so softly that Jane and Jeff had to strain to hear, "This wasn't supposed to happen."

"Let's go back to bed." Bean urged. "We'll deal with the mess tomorrow."

Together the two girls disappeared inside.

Jane's mouth twisted into a hard line as she tightly whispered, "I'll be glad to see them die."

Jeff nodded silently before tugging on Jane's arm, pulling her away from the house and back into the woods. "Come on, let's leave."

"Yeah." Jane didn't say anything more as they ran into the woods and were sucked out of the dimension.

* * *

 _?_

Slowly circling a spot of ground that looked exactly like the ones all around it, he muttered softly to himself, unable to decide whether to be nervous or annoyed. "She said it was right here. She _told_ me that she was staying at a cabin." Of course he was in the exact location she had given him and there didn't seem to be a house in sight. Abandoning his little patch of dirt, he walked off into the trees that seemed to stretch endlessly in all directions, mumbling, "She said she'd call."

A loud snap from behind him dropped him into a crouching position as he hid behind a tree, carefully peeking out to see what had made the noise.

"She chose her path Jane." A tall pale man stood in the spot that he had been examining only seconds before. Next to him stood a girl of similar complexion. Both of them were easily recognized.

"Yeah, I didn't think she'd go that far." Muttered Jane sadly. "She was my friend."

"Shit happens." Muttered Jeff with a sad shrug. "Come on, I'm serious about going home."

Leaning almost imperceptibly into Jeff's chest, Jane nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

Both of them took off, heading right. After waiting to make sure they were both gone, he got to his feet and rushed to the spot the two serial killers had appeared from. So she _was_ here.

Apparently she had managed to make herself some enemies as well.

Rubbing his hands together, he walked away, content for the moment. She was there and she'd probably survive.

For now at least.

 **A/N: I must say, even though I love the Geek sisters dearly, they are absolutely** _ **impossible.**_ **Those witty comments each took forever to come up with.**

 **I suck at puns. I just can't, I just can't even.**

 **Just a side note, I hope nobody is too attached to Emily...**


	5. A Real 'Whodunit'

**A/N: This story has got to be the most confusing thing I've ever attempted to write. There are so many characters and I'm having trouble deciding who to focus on.**

 **But I think I've finally remembered what the original purpose of the story was so, here we go again.**

 **Enjoy.**

 _Emily_

A soft snoring was what at last woke Emily up. Blearily blinking against the harsh glare of the sunlight streaming through the window of her room she sat there a moment, unable to move as the events of the night before flited through her head. The body, the blood, the suffocating fear. _Oh God,_ The thought of Taylor's limp dead hand sent a bolt of terror through Emily. _The body is still there._

Looking around her room she took in its extra occupants. After the events of last night everyone had elected to stay in one room. As the bedroom she shared with Catherine was the second largest, everyone had migrated there. Well, everyone but Ellie and Sophia. _They_ had gone to their room to watch slasher films to, how had they put it, study up?

That had left Mackenzie, Bean and Spectra to all share the room with her and Catherine. _Speaking of Catherine…_ Looking across the room, Emily looked at her fat, blood covered, friend. After some serious teamwork they had managed to carry her to her own bed and had unceremoniously dumped her there. The Geek Sisters had been all for leaving her to wake up to the sight of Taylor's dead hand.

Mackenzie had over ruled them.

Attempting to make as little noise as possible, Emily slipped out of her bed and carefully navigated around the sleeping forms of Spectra, Bean and Mackenzie that populated the floor. Silently opening the door, Emily slipped out of the crowded room and headed for the staircase. As she began her descent, the soft hum of voices met her ears. Peering over the railing, Emily could see the occasional flash of straight brunette hair that belonged to Sophia. Judging by the smells, the Geek girls were already making coffee.

Not wanting to draw attention to herself Emily continued downstairs without speaking, straining her ears to pick up the conversation the girls were having.

"I get what you're saying Soph, but I'm telling you, serial killers are drawn to groups of college girls alone in the woods like flies to honey." Ellie sounded impatient, as if she had been making the same argument for a while.

Sophia's voice was annoyed as she insisted, "The chances of a serial killer coming out here are small. All the evidence points to it being a well thought out murder, committed by one of the people here."

With a snort of exasperation Ellie pointed out, "Most of the girls here are dumb enough to put two and two together and get five. Whoever did it knew enough to cut off any internet access and all phone connections. I don't know when they did it but I know enough to be able to definitively say it happened shortly before Taylor's death. Point to one girl in this house who knows how to do that."

"You can." Sophia said simply.

"True enough."

Emily froze at those words. It wasn't as if the idea that Ellie or Sophia had killed Taylor hadn't crossed her mind, it had been the _first_ thing that crossed her mind, but this felt suspiciously like more evidence against them.

Not that the fact that the two had both been covered in blood and had shown a lack of empathy towards the death of their friend wasn't evidence enough.

"You know," Ellie drawled loudly, "I thought Asians had small feet. You sound like fucking Big Foot Emily."

With an irritated sigh Emily gave up on hiding and walked into the kitchen, customary scowl already finding its way onto her face. From the looks the two girls sitting at the kitchen's island gave her, Emily knew she must look terrible. For once though, she didn't care. One of her friends had just died, they could be a bit more sympathetic.

"What time is it?" She asked as she sat down next to Sophia.

"Almost one." Ellie answered with a shrug. "We considered waking everybody up early but we were too busy playing Minecraft."

Sophia nodded vigorously. "Besides, everyone knows what you and Kenzie are like if you don't get your beauty sleep."

"I thought you guys were going to watch slasher films." Emily muttered, overlooking the insult in favor of pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"Oh we did," Ellie affirmed. "It only took one to figure out that the best course of action in this case would be to-"

"Get the hell out of here." Emily finished as she took a sip of the scalding black coffee. Setting down her mug she noticed that the Geek sisters were staring at her as if they couldn't believe their ears. "What?" She asked irritably. "I happen to _always_ get four when I put two and two together."

"Yeah, but-" Sophia blinked several times in confusion before giving up.

"Have you seen a horror movie, like ever?" Ellie asked.

Emily shrugged. "I've seen the classics." When the girls continued to stare at her she groaned in exasperation. "What now!"

"And here I thought you were completely worthless." Ellie murmured.

Emily wasn't quite sure that incurring the respect of these two nerds was something to be strived for but she decided to take it anyway. After all, she would rather insult people with them than be insulted anymore. "Glad I could change your mind."

After a moment of silence Sophia asked, "Do you think we should get everybody up?"

Ellie rolled her eyes. "They'll just start to panic again."

"Not if we already know what we're doing before they wake up." Emily reasoned.

Sophia shot her another weird look. "Why are you choosing now to stop acting all bitchy?"

Groaning loudly Emily groused, "Is that really all you guys think I am?"

"Yes actually." Ellie admitted. "But you do have a point, we should know what we're doing so we don't end up like the blond chicks in horror flicks."

"Which means leaving now." Sophia announced. "Before more people can die."

"Mackenzie and I both have our cars." Emily said. "One of us could drive out and get help."

"Why shouldn't we all leave?" Sophia asked. "You know the rule, no splitting up."

 _How do you say in the kindest way possible that you think that the people you're talking too might have killed someone?_ Emily wondered before settling with, "If one of our 'friends' and I'm not pointing any fingers here, killed Taylor, we don't want them to leave or maybe butcher us while driving."

"What if you killed Taylor?" Sophia pointed out. "So far all you've done is accusing anyone that isn't you."

 _I thought I was doing a good job not pointing fingers!_ "I'm not accusing anyone!" Objected Emily. "I'm just pointing out the obvious problems with our situation."

"She's got a point Soph." Ellie muttered, "If one person goes for help, the chances of it ending badly go down. It they aren't the killer, they'll come back with help. If they are the killer, they probably won't come back at all."

"And what if they aren't alone, and there's more than one killer hiding somewhere in the woods waiting for us to let our guard down?" Sophia retorted.

"Weren't you just saying that it couldn't _possibly_ be a serial killer?" Ellie pointed out.

"Yeah but…" Sophia trailed off.

"What if we send two people out, one in each of our cars?" Emily suggested.

"What good would that do?" Ellie asked as if seriously considering taking back her judgement that Emily wasn't all that dumb.

"At least one of them would have to survive." Emily reasoned.

"I guess that could work." Sophia admitted with a nod.

"Now," Ellie announced with a clap. "Who should go?"

"Spectra."

"Mackenzie."

Emily and Sophia looked at each other. Narrowing her eyes Emily said, "You don't honestly think that Spectra, the girl who's afraid of her own fucking shadow, would kill someone."

"They said the same thing about Verbal Kint, and he turned out to be Keyser Söze all along." Sophia pointed out. "You have to admit she was acting weird last night."

Ellie looked at her short friend and sighed. "I'm gonna have to agree with Em here. If she was the one who cut the phone connections, why would she have been trying to make a phone call?"

"Who said she was even making a phone call? Sure we saw her with her phone but that isn't much of an alibi." Sophia argued. "Besides, if she had just been calling someone, why did she deny it? She's _clearly_ hiding something."

Emily thought for a second before saying, "Yeah, she probably is hiding something but don't you remember how out of character she acted when she saw Taylor dead? If she'd been trying to cover up her own guilt she would have tried to act exactly like always"

"Maybe she was acting. Think about it, what do we really know about her anyways? That she's a kind, sensitive and easily frightened person that does whatever she's told to. That's like every serial killers story. Ted Bundy was really good looking and he ended up killing nearly 40 women." Sophia's words rang true but Emily still wasn't convinced.

"Unless Spectra is secretly a serial killer, then it would have had to have been a premeditated murder. If she really wanted to kill Taylor she could have slipped something into Tay's drink at one of those stupid parties Mackenzie is always dragging us too. It could have looked like some guy was trying to drug her and ended up doing it wrong." Emily pointed out. "Why come all the way out here where she doesn't have a home court advantage or a good alibi to do it?"

"Maybe she's trying to grab the public's attention, Zodiac and Jack the ripper messed with the cops and the public all the time. And who knows, maybe Taylor wasn't even the target? Everyone knows to always take out the big guy first, and that pretty much described Tay Tay to a T." Ellie suggested.

A spark of insight hit Emily and she thumped the counter. "I know why it couldn't have been her. She's too short."

Ellie gave her a perplexed look before dawning realization crossed her face. "You're right. She would have needed a ladder to reach that vent. If she stuffed the body in there after killing her, it would have been already bleeding. A ladder would have left a trail and it would have been noisy. Besides, I don't even know if Kenzie has a ladder."

"Exactly." Emily agreed, allowing her smugness to show as she gave Sophia a superior look. "That's why she didn't do it."

Sophia rolled her eyes. "Fine, you two win. I still don't trust that blue haired girl though. I get what you're saying but there are ways around that."

"I know what you're saying Soph," Ellie said. "But let's be realistic here. She didn't have a motive."

"And Mackenzie does?" Sophia shot back, still irritated.

Laughing bitterly Emily said, "You haven't known Taylor and Mackenzie as long as I have. It's only recently that they've stopped vying for control."

Ellie cocked her head to the side. "Oh?"

"I've known them since before college." Emily elaborated. "Everyone always assumed they were best friends but in reality it was one long cat fight. Just this last year Mackenzie and Taylor finally settled for equal power but that wasn't until some really nasty shit happened. The amount of bitterness between them can't just be overlooked."

The Geek sisters were silent while they digested this information. Finally Ellie broke the silence with, "What stopped it?"

"Oh no." Emily said, throwing her hands in the air. "Mackenzie would kill me so I'm _not_ telling you."

"Yeah you are." Sophia deadpanned.

They had her pegged there. "Fine, the group of us used to rent this house. It was, like only two stories and there wasn't much in the way of space because Mackenzie was going through her phase of 'I'm paying for my own stuff and not letting my parents pay for stuff for me' and the landlady lived in the basement. Anyway, there was a small second story balcony on the house that was connected to both Taylor's and Kenzie's room. Long story short they were fighting one night up there, loud enough to wake up the neighborhood. Things got a bit out of hand."

"Did one of them shove the other off the roof?" Ellie asked excitedly.

"Worse, the landlady came up to tell them to shut up. They ended up pushing _her_ off the roof."

Sophia snickered. "Oops."

Emily snorted, "Yeah, that _oops_ meant eviction, lawsuits and a whole lot of other shit. Mackenzie ended up getting slammed with most of the blame."

"Oh…" Ellie sighed softly. "That definitely sounds like a motive."

"No shit Sherlock." Sophia snorted sarcastically. "So we're not sending Spectra out but we _are_ sending Mackenzie. Who else"

Ellie tapped the counter thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure we can eliminate Bean since she doesn't have an actual motive, Ren however…"

"Was basically a slave." Sophia finished.

Emily shrugged. "She might had been a slave but that doesn't mean she hated Taylor. She practically worshiped Tay."

"So did Norman Bates, All the way until the point where he snapped." Ellie pointed out.

"You have a point." Emily conceded. "So we should send the two greatest suspects out to get help?"

"Yup." Announced Sophia. "Shall we go wake them now?"

"Probably best." Emily grimly got to her feet. "Do either of you know where the tissues are?"

"No, why?" Ellie asked in confusion.

"Because there are going to be a lot of tears." Sophia answered with a grin as though the idea of her friends crying was funny.

Armed with a box of tissues each, the three girls headed upstairs.

* * *

 _Spectra_

"So you're expecting us to go out just because you say so?" Mackenzie's voice was fringed with panic. "Someone just _died_ and you expect us to leave?"

"Yeah Kenzie, we do." Emily said as she handed her friend another tissue. "It's common sense. If we stay, chances are, we're gonna die."

As Spectra sat up, her sleep laden brain tried to make sense of what was going on. _All going to die…_ That brought her bolt upright.

"I don't see why _I_ should have to go though!" Mackenzie tried to sound indignant but all she managed to do was sound scared.

"I've already told you, The Geeks and I have thought everything through and we decided you would be one of the best people to go."

"But you're perfectly capable of-" Mackenzie's words were cut off by a loud wail.

Spectra turned her purple gaze to the other side of the room where Catherine lay in bed, sobbing her eyes out. Ellie and Sophia were clearly not making anything better.

"For the love of fuck will you shut up." Ellie snapped at the grieving girl. "It was only Taylor."

"B-b-but she's _dead_!" Catherine blubbered through the tears.

"Did you know that about one hundred-and-fifty thousand people die every day." Sophia said. "The world isn't going to miss one more person."

"I'm gonna m-miss her though." Sniffled Catherine before letting out another shuddering sob.

"Yeah," Snorted Ellie, "We get it, you can stop now."

Fed up with how her so called 'friends' were acting Spectra got to her feet and walked over to where Catherine sat, curled in on herself. Careful not to shove Ellie, Spectra climbed up onto the bed next to her inconsolable friend and softly said, "It's going to be alright Ren. We're going to go to the police and they're going to find whoever killed Taylor."

Looking up at her blue haired friend, Catherine whimpered, "That's not going to bring her back."

Taking a tissue from the box that Ellie held, Spectra carefully wiped the tears from her plump friends generally happy face and, in soothing tones, said, "I wish I could bring her back for you Ren but you need to be strong for us. What do you think Taylor would have done if she saw you like this?"

"She would have chased away whatever made me cry." Catherine said in a barely audible voice.

"She wanted you to smile." Spectra said as she continued to dry her friends face. "Smile in memory of Taylor. Don't feel sad that she died, feel happy she lived."

"My god, could you sound any less like a soap opera?" Ellie asked sarcastically.

Biting her tongue, Spectra refrained from responding, choosing instead to brush the messy waves of brown hair from Catherine's face, grab her hand and say, "Come on, let's get you cleaned up. You go to the bathroom for a shower and I'll be there in a moment with a change of clothes."

While Catherine stumbled from the room, Spectra hurried to the dresser and searched for something clean her friend could wear.

"You handled that really well." Spectra started and spun around to find Bean standing there, overlarge robe and hooded making her look like drowning. Spectra allowed herself a wane smile as she turned back to her self appointed task.

"I just figured that Ellie and Sophia didn't know how to handle someone that upset." She said by way of explanation.

"Don't know? More like don't care if you ask me." Snorted Bean. Even though she dared not say it aloud, Spectra agreed with that statement. Those two girls were either really cruel or had some screws loose.

"Where did Catherine go?" Emily's rough voice grated on Spectra's ears.

Turning around, now holding Catherine's change of clothes, Spectra softly answered, "She's getting a shower."

"Oh for the love of god." Emily rolled her eyes with a groan. "Someone died and she choses to take a shower? Does she see any of us taking showers?"

Spectra opened her mouth to shoot back a reply but Bean stepped in front of her and snapped, "The rest of you didn't pass out in a pool of someone else's blood. Cut her some slack Em, her friend just died."

"She was my friend too you know." Emily growled. "And just so we're clear, there's a distinct possibility that Catherine was the one who killed Taylor in the first place."

Spectra started to protest this fact but Bean cut her off once more with a cry of, "You're a complete bitch, you know that? How can you possibly think that a sweet angel like Catherine killed Taylor?"

"Easy, the evidence points to her." Emily stated with shrug. "And that's one of the reasons we're sending her out in one of the cars to get help. I don't want to be in a house with a potential murderer."

Spectra fought the urge to laugh at Emily's words and was glad when Mackenzie shot up and asked, furious, "Is that why you're sending me out there too? Because you think I might have killed Taylor?"

"No one ever said we blamed you." Emily responded defensively.

"Except that we do." Ellie drawled. "It's either you or Catherine."

"Hang on, how do we know it's not you or Sophia?" Bean shouted angrily. "It seems to me _you_ should be at the top of this list."

Ellie turned a stony glare at Bean and sneered, "Oh, like _you're_ not suspicious as well."

Tired of listening to her friends argue, Spectra quietly slipped out the door and headed for the bathroom. So Taylor had been killed. Did that make it right to suddenly start blaming everyone for offing her? No.

After knocking on the bathroom door Spectra slipped in and placed the fresh change of clothes on the marble vanity before turning to the opaque glass of the shower currently occupied by Catherine and asking, "Ren, you okay?"

"I'm feeling better." She said through the monotonous sound of falling water. "Why are they all shouting in there?"

She considered telling her friend but decided not to. Catherine had gone through enough already without adding murder charges to her plate. "It doesn't matter."

"They mentioned going for help, who's gonna go?" Catherine asked softly.

Biting her lip, a habit she had picked up to replace speaking her mind, Spectra ventured, "They're trying to get Mackenzie to go but they want someone to take the other car." If she could get Catherine to decide to go on her own, chances were good she wouldn't burst into tears again when the other girls brought it up.

"I can go." Catherine's words sounded more like a defeated sigh than an offer. It was almost as if she already anticipated being ordered to go and wanted to volunteer before that could happen.

"No one's making you." Spectra's words sounded convincing, even to herself.

"Yeah but I should go. Taylor meant a lot to me and by going I'm still helping her, even in death."

Spectra smiled at Ren's words. "I guess you're right."

As the water was turned off Catherine called, "Can you pass me a towel?"

She quickly obliged before leaving the room. Noticing the shouts from the other room were gone, Spectra walked to the balcony and peered over the edge. Just as she had expected the girls were all downstairs, sitting around the den in a terse silence.

Thinking back, Spectra could remember a time when she would have walked downstairs and snapped at everyone for how childish they were acting. As her feet carried her softly down the stairs she wondered when it had changed. Now, as she walked towards her friends, she tiptoed only to the fringes, hoping not to disturb anyone.

Sadly, that didn't help much. "Did you tell Catherine that she's going?" Emily asked rudely.

Looking up, Spectra's eyes met Emily's and held. After a second, she remembered to look down, even though it turned her stomach to do so. "Yes, she said she would go."

Emily humphed and crossed her arms. "Good, at least _someone's_ being cooperative." She directed a pointed glare at Mackenzie.

"Who died and left you in charge?" As the words left her mouth, Mackenzie's green eyes widened and she covered her mouth.

"Well, if you've forgotten you can go look in the vent." Ellie suggested lazily.

"Will you shut up!" Yelled Bean, "I'm so sick of you and Sophia right now."

Sophia threw her hands in the air. "Sorry Bean, I care _so_ much about what you think."

"Please, don't fight." Spectra begged from her spot on the floor next to Bean's chair.

Mackenzie got to her feet suddenly and made for the door. "I'm going to go get the car started."

One by one the other girls got to their feet and followed Mackenzie. All except Spectra. She gratefully sat down on the sofa and leaned back, enjoying the peace despite the circumstances. Unfortunately, her rest was interrupted by the soft call of Catherine from the top of the stairs.

"Where is everyone?" Glancing up, Spectra was glad to see her friend dressed in fresh clothes, looking much better than before.

"They're outside waiting for us." She answered softly. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Yeah." Running a hand through her wet hair, Catherine made her way down the stairs, pausing at the bottom only for a brief second before walking towards the front door. "Come on, we may as well get out there."

Spectra nodded quickly and followed. As they made their way down the gravel path to the cars, Spectra kept careful count of her surroundings. The other girls might be convinced the killer was one of them but Spectra doubted it. She had known them for a while now and killing someone was so far removed from their characters that it seemed unlikely to be any of them.

 _Then again,_ she thought as she glanced at the softly humming girl beside her. _You can never be too careful._

A loud yell of, "Well fuck." rent the quiet air like a knife. Speeding up, Spectra outpaced Catherine and skidded into the clearing where her friends had parked the cars to find Ellie viciously jacking up the hood of one of the cars.

"What's wrong?" Spectra asked worriedly as she watched Ellie mutter mutinously over the tangle of wires.

"The fucking car won't start." Emily groused from beside her friend. "The other one's fine but this one won't work."

"Is it out of fuel?" Spectra asked delicately, not wanting to make a bad situation worse.

"We've already thought about that mouse brains." Ellie growled. "It's got gas, it just won't start."

Internally groaning and rolling her eyes, she walked towards the car and lightly pushed Ellie out of the way. Obviously fed up with the car, Elle backed up, hands in the air. "Knock yourself out."

She examined the engine and the complex stew of wires attached to it noting that they seemed alright. Walking around to the driver's side, she opened the door and turned the key that protruded from the ignition. The engine made not a single sound even though everything seemed fine.

"I already told you blue, it won't work. Doing it over again isn't going to do jack shit idiot."

Ignoring her friend's petty insults, Spectra shut off her surroundings and tried to think. Snapping her fingers, she came with the realization of their situation "The battery is dead. The car needs a jumpstart."

"How can you be so sure?" Sophia asked, clearly sceptical.

Spectra got out of the car but not before popping the trunk. "I know a lot about electricity." She walked to the back of the car and searched the trunk.

"What exactly are you hoping to find?" Mackenzie asked as she got out of her car and walked over to Spectra.

"We need jumper cables." She muttered as she continued her fruitless search.

"And where are we supposed to find them?" Tired of Ellie's constant nitpicking, Spectra took two calming breaths. _It's antisocial to punch people in the face,_ She reminded herself.

"I've heard of those. I think we keep them in the basement" Mackenzie suggested, unintentionally saving Ellie in the process.

Catherine, who had at some point showed up in the clearing asked, "But aren't we going to get help?"

"Not until we start this car." Spectra quickly interjected before her friends decided to rush off. "We need a working car battery to start a dead one."

"And you learned all this how?" Bean asked curiously.

"My… Friend." Spectra supplied quickly. "Anyway, most people have to know these kind of things."

Mackenzie shot her a quizzical look. "I never had to know this."

"I guess some people are better prepared for real life than you Kenzie." reassured Sophia sweetly. "Don't worry though, with a chest like yours, men will do all the thinking for you."

Mackenzie bit her lip, probably to stifle a retort, then muttered, "You all should stay here. I'll be back with the jumper cables as soon as possible."

"Don't you think-" Spectra started hesitantly.

Sophia cut her off at once. "Don't even think about it Blue. Mackenzie will be fine on her own." With a smile that didn't reach her eyes she asked, "Besides, what's a mouse like you gonna be able to do, huh? I think it's best if you stay here where we can keep an eye on you. We wouldn't want you to get hurt now would we?"

Feeling chills run down her spine at Sophia's words Spectra softly asked, "Are you threatening me?"

"So mice have learned to distinguish threatening tones!" Ellie exclaimed with false cheer. "At this rate you'll be a genius by midnight."

"What did Spectra ever do to you?" Bean asked, angered by the girl's hurtful comments.

"Never you mind Bean, you should just worry about that cold you seemed to be getting last night." Sophia remarked offhandedly. "We'll do the worrying for you."

Before her friends could start another full scale argument Spectra stepped out from behind Bean and pleaded, "Don't fight. How about we just get the jumper cables and get help. Let's not do anything stupid."

"For once I agree with Blue." Emily snorted with disdain. " _This_ isn't getting anything done."

"I'll just go and get the cables" Mackenzie volunteered once more, this time with a panicked edge to her tone.

"As long as the mouse stays in her little plastic cage, I'm fine with it." Sophia announced, narrowing her eyes once more at Spectra.

"Watch it" Bean stepped in front of her. "Don't push your luck too far."

"I'm going!" Mackenzie scampered clear of the arguing girls and raced up the hill. "Be back soon!"

* * *

 _Zero_

Sighing loudly, Zero sat down on one of the boxes towards the back of the overcrowded, dimly lit basement and propped her sledgehammer against another. _If I had gotten to kill first,_ she thought ruefully. _This would have been way more fun._ But no, Zero had been forced to go _second_. No fun deaths, no chasing through the woods, she had to make it look like an accident.

Well, she didn't _have_ to but it was the logical course of action in the situation. After all, two deaths in a row was quite extreme. One death and one _oops!_ seemed more plausible.

That didn't make it any more fun.

Hefting her sledgehammer over her shoulder, Zero left her perch on the box and headed to the back of the basement. At least, she guessed she was heading towards the back. It was a little hard to tell what with all the floor to ceiling shelves crammed with boxes and crazy twists and turns. _All I need,_ Zero thought as she stepped over yet another rotting mouse carcass. _Is a black girl and an accident and I'll be able to leave._

As if in answer to her thoughts, the dark shades of grey blazed to life and loud footfalls heralded the approach of the very girl Zero had been waiting for. Excitement filling her at last. Zero doubled back and headed towards the stairs, hoping to follow Mackenzie and save herself the trouble of finding her later and risk getting caught.

Much to her delight, the green eyed girl was alone. She was muttering to herself as she went, apparently playing out an argument she was having with herself.

"You'll be fine Ken, don't panic. You've lived here on and off for years." Despite their confident tone, Zero could smell the fear emanating off of the girl.

"But no one's ever died here before," she countered as she navigated around a couple boxes that had tumbled from their shelf.

Zero smirked as she followed, silent as the grave, behind the girl. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

"No one's going to attack you here." Mackenzie assured herself as she opened a drawer of a metal cabinet and riffled through it.

"Yeah, they're more likely to be waiting for you at the top of the stairs." Mackenzie snorted at herself derisively as she snapped the cabinet closed once more.

 _Oh yeah, what's gonna stop them from killing you here?_ Zero wondered, stifling her laugh before it could escape.

"SHUT UP!" The girl before her yelled suddenly. For a second, Zero thought that Mackenzie was talking to her before she realized that the stupid girl was still talking to herself.

"I just need those cables." She started opening drawers one by one. "The damn cable!" She then started throwing pieces off the shelves as fast as she could, not realizing the weakened screws that held them.

A sudden noise behind her made her freeze mid throw. She spun on her heels, terror in her big eyes. "Hello?"

Zero felt confusion run through her. Whatever had made that noise hadn't been her…

Scuffling sounds continued to get louder as whatever it was drew closer to the terrified girl. "S-stay back!" She squeaked, choking on her fear. "I have-" She reached behind her at random and picked up a wrench. "A weapon!"

The scraping reached a fever pitch and suddenly a bolt of mangy grey fur shot out from underneath a nearby shelf. Mackenzie screamed at the top of her lungs and threw the wrench she held at the creature. Much to Zero's surprise, the offending rodent was hit and was dazed momentarily, just long enough for it to become clear that the source of the noise had been a rat.

"Oh." Mackenzie whimpered softly, breathing out a sigh of relief. "A rat, it was just a rat." Mackenzie turned her attention back to the pile of tools. The sooner she found the cables, the sooner she'd get out.

Looking at the unsteady shelf she had been purusing, Mackenzie muttered, "Stupid thing's about to collapse."

Walking away from the hazard, Mackenzie delved farther into the maze that was her basement, completely unaware that Zero was still tailing her silently. Taking turn after random turn she ended up at last at the very back of the basement. With a sigh, the black girl slumped on a box and moaned, "This is hopeless."  
Zero quite agreed with her. The whole endeavor _was_ hopeless because Zero had already found the jumper cables and disposed of them. Why give the girls hope unnecessarily?

Deciding that this was as good a time as any, Zero circled the area where Kenzie sat, stewing in her own misery, until she was behind the shelf of boxes that Kenzie was facing. Now it was just a matter of time…

"Why do we even need two cars?" The green eyed girl asked herself in frustration. "One of us can go for help." Seeming to be emboldened by her own words, Kenzie got to her feet. "You know what?"

"What?" Zero couldn't help but ask, barely contained mirth almost spilling over the word.

"Ellie Sophia and Emily can all go screw each other. I don't have to listen to them!"

Smiling wider Zero agreed, "No you don't! You should be able to do what you want."

Nodding, Mackenzie said, "Exactly, I-"

 _Dawning. Realization._

Shoving two boxes apart, Zero grinned through the newly formed gap and the gaping girl. "Do continue, I'm _all_ ears."

Mackenzie backed up slightly, whimpering softly as she did before a scream tore through her lips and she took off.

Laughing, Zero set out after her. Darting between the shelves after her quarry she quickly overtook the terrified girl and halted her progress with a swing delivered from the sledgehammer to the back of her knees. Crying out in pain, Mackenzie went down, legs no doubt shattered.

As she stood over Mackenzie's terrified form, Zero hissed, "You should have listened to your blue haired friend Kenzie."

Whimpering the black girl pushed out, "D-did you kill Tay?"

"Me? Kill Taylor?" Zero snorted. "Never. But I am going to kill you."

Sobbing in terror, Mackenzie tried to drag herself away from Zero but it was no use. "Tut tut, bad girl." Deftly wielding the sledgehammer like it was an extension of her arms, Zero crushed one of Mackenzie's arms, then broke the other with a second swing.

"I'm actually kind of mad at you." Zero admitted, evil laughter lacing her words. "I wanted to be the first but _no_ I had to go second. This is just no fun. It's like killing a caged bird." She looked down at the helpless girl who barely had the energy to stay conscience. "Oh well, nighty night." She raised the hammer up high and smashed it against her head.

 **A/N: You thought I was going to kill of Emily but I didn't. Actually, now that I think about it,** _ **I**_ **thought I was going to kill of Emily. Thank goodness IamDeadGhost stopped me from making such a terrible mistake.**

 **Her time of reckoning approaches though.**

 **It approaches.**


	6. Less Than Normal

**A/N: After a lovely vacation in the sun I'm back to writing. Sorry for neglecting to post over spring break, I'll make up for it eventually.**

 **Enjoy!**

 _Sophia_

"Don't look at me, it's not my fault she had more boobs than brains." Sophia continued her survey of the damage in the same deadpan way she did everything.

"But it was your fault she went down there!" Bean growled angrily, the tears from her most recent meltdown already drying on her face.

"Actually, it was Mackenzie's own fault." Ellie pointed out, gently nudging the edge of one of the many metal boxes that blocked their way to Mackenzie's presumably dead body. "She didn't _have_ to go get the jumper cables, she _chose_ to, ergo, her fault."

"It was just a mistake." Spectra's soft voice cut through the budding argument and temporarily silenced both parties. "The shelves must have been unstable, Mackenzie didn't know that and she-" She fell silent and weakly waved her hand at the damage.

At her words Sophia's eyes narrowed. "Oh, _just a mistake_ you say. How would _you_ know that mouse? Maybe you just want us to believe that."

"You think I killed her!? I was with you the whole time." Spectra protested.

Sophia glanced at Ellie and then back at Spectra. "No, of _course_ you didn't kill her. Just like you _totally_ didn't kill Taylor. And it's not that hard to have an _accident_ in this junk yard." Catherine whimpered at the words but Sophia ignored her as she took a menacing step towards Spectra. "You killed Taylor but she wasn't the only leader here. You had to kill Mackenzie too. What, did she see you hiding the bloodstained clothes outside? Did she hear you having a conversation with your partner who's waiting for us to drop our guard? Answer me blue!"

Much to Sophia's annoyance, Bean stepped in front of Spectra, blocking her from further accusation. "Shut the hell up Sophia, you have no proof and she didn't have an opportunity for this crime or a motive for either."

"And what about you miss perfect?" Ellie said, "How do we know you're not hiding something?"

A look of incredulity crossed Bean's face. "I- I never did anything! I'm innocent!"

"Then enlighten us as to why you keep defending the murderer." Sophia looked up to confront her. "So far, all you've done is get in the way of our investigations."

"Because Spectra is my _friend_." Bean's eyes blazed. " _I_ don't go around blaming people just because I can."

"She has a point you know." Emily, who had been up until this point silent, got to her feet and walked over to the arguing girls. "You guys aren't looking at this logically. For this _accident_ to have taken place someone would have had to loosen the screws holding these shelves together. That would have taken a while."

Sophia bristled, "But Spectra-"

Emily held up a hand, cutting her off. " _If_ it had been Spectra all on her own, she would have had to do it last night which means she also drained the car battery so that we would have to go get the jumper cables. How could she have had enough time to do all that _and_ kill Taylor all in the same night." Another whimper from Catherine. Emily spun to look at her plump friend and smirked. "No, Spectra did it today and she had some help."

"Catherine." Ellie finished Emily thought, her own grin spreading across her face.

"Precisely!" Emily clapped her hands once. "I think that Spectra and Catherine killed our original murderer."

"So accusing me was not enough, now you're going to accuse Catherine?" Spectra yelled. "Look at her, she wouldn't hurt a fly!" Suddenly she fell silent, fear in her eyes.

"Apparently she's a better actor than you are."

"She would if she thought she was getting revenge for Taylor."

Emily and Ellie spoke at the same time. With a gracious wave of her hand, Ellie indicated that Emily should continue. With a nod Emily spoke. "Catherine seemed to have _some_ sort of connection to Taylor. Imagine just how upset she'd be if Taylor was killed! It seems that she would be upset enough to kill the girl she _thought_ killed Taylor."

Still smirking at Ellie's comment, Sophia took a moment to glare up at Spectra before saying, "I think she killed the wrong person."

"Which is exactly why Specta helped her!" Emily continued, excited. "By helping, Spectra and Catherine now trust each other and Spec gets one step closer to getting away with murdering Taylor."

"I'm glad _someone_ agrees with me." Sophia said with a snort as she directed another glare and Ellie.

Completely missing her short friends pointed comment, Ellie mused, "Yeah, it all makes sense now. Looks like we've solved the case."

"Hold on!" Bean shouted as Catherine burst into a fresh wave of tears. "Have you not been listening to us? Catherine and Spectra didn't do it!"

"But even you have to admit that it looks bad." Sophia pointed out, irritated that someone like _Bean_ would try to go against what what clearly in front of her.

"Maybe it does. Maybe I don't care. Spectra at least is my friend." Grabbing Spectra's arm, Bean started back towards the stairs out of the basement. "You three can go rot in hell."

After Bean was out of earshot Ellie leaned down to Sophia and muttered, "Kitty got claws." The inside joke was lost on Emily.

"We should get out of here." Emily said decisively. "Catherine, get off your sorry ass and go upstairs."

With a soft whimper Catherine got to her feet and stood behind the three girls. Ellie narrowed her eyes and ordered, "In front of us Ren. There's a good girl."

Slowly, clearly trembling from head to toe, Catherine walked in front of the trio and started back out of the basement. Studying her closely, waiting for her to make a sudden move, the girls followed.

"Oh my god, what is that smell?" Emily complained loudly as they exited the basement.

"That would be the decomposing corpse Emily love." Ellie said sarcastically.

"Ugh, we've got to do something about that." Emily muttered angrily as if Taylor's dead body had personally wronged her.

"What do you suggest that we do?" Sophia asked mutinously, "Burn her?"

"NO!" Catherine suddenly bursted in fear.

"We're not going to burn her" The sudden voice of Bean startled Sophia out of another sarcastic remark. "We're going to have respect for her soul and bury her body."

"Where did _this_ saintliness come from?" Ellie asked suspiciously. "Trying to hide the evidence?"

"N-no I just thought-" Bean trailed off.

"We both think that the body should be buried." Spectra appeared at Beans elbow suddenly. "Not all of us are cold hearted bitc- girls."

"No please, do finish what you were going to say!"

Spectra closed her mouth and looked nervous.

"I believe she was calling us cold hearted bitches. Am I right blue?" Sophia asked maliciously.

"I- I wasn't-" Spectra shook her head then fixed the girls with a hard look. "We're burying that body whether you want us to or not. Taylor deserves a respectful burial."

"Yeah, an unmarked spot in the middle of nowhere. If it was you, I'd say it's too good for you."

Before things got out of control, Emily yelled to control the group, "Enough! You can say whatever you want but _only_ after we bury that body. The house smells bad enough as it is." Emily commanded as she tried to snap some sense into the group. "It's about time someone took action and got a hold of you crazies."

"I'm sorry, but who died and made you the leader?" Sophia asked

"Taylor and Mackenzie." Ellie said with a grin. "You know what, I'm actually cool with this."

"Wait, you're just going to let the Asian be in charge?" Incredulity dripped from Sophia's voice.

"Don't be silly." Emily gave Ellie a calculated look. "Ellie and I will be co-leaders."

"This I can live with." Sophia decided at last. "Now, who wants to pull Tay Tay out of the vent?"

"I'll do it." Catherine raised a trembling hand.

"I'm coming." Ellie said with a smirk that didn't fit the mood. "Sophia, you had better have ten dollars handy because I am about to win that bet."

* * *

 _Emily_

"We should say something." Bean said softly as she stared at the freshly made grave. "Anything. Taylor deserves that."

"Well, she was… Tough, I guess?" Ellie tried to come up with something nice and failed spectacularly.

"I'll say something." Emily groused. _This is getting ridiculous_ , She thought in annoyance, _first I have to help dig the grave and now we have to say words?_ "Taylor might not have been the easiest person to deal with, but she was fun to drink with and she kept everyone in line."

"And…" Sophia waved her hand expectantly.

"I got nothing." Emily admitted.

"Well it's better than nothing. Thank you Emily." Bean told her. "Anyone else?"

"She was tall." Ellie said suddenly with a nod of approval. "I respect tall people." Sophia elbowed her sharply in the gut. "And she won me a bet." Ellie grinned. "Eleven stab wounds. In your face Soph."

"Don't you jerks have anything nice to say. She was our friend." Bean scowled at the two who didn't seem to take any offense whatsoever.

"I want to say something." Catherine suddenly spoke in a low tone, but it was loud enough to be noticed. "Whenever Taylor was by my side I always felt safe. She used to support me and have my back no matter what. And I know she sometimes seemed to treat me bad, but she never dared to go that far. I loved her, Taylor was like a big sister too me."

Bean smiled at her, encouraging her to continue.

"Yeah, until you went and got friendzoned." Sophia rudely commented.

Catherine's eyes suddenly widened. "W-what are you talking about?"

Ellie sighed and rolled her eyes. "Don't act so innocent. We all know that you had a huge crush on her. Until she told you that she was into dicks that is." She continued with a scoff, "Big sister? Give me a break."

"That's it!" Bean turned. "You two are unbelievable. This is a funeral and you're-" She waved her hands, looking for a word nasty enough to describe the Geeks accurately.

"Right?" Emily suggested with a smirk.

Catherine whimpered and burst into tears again.

"I've had enough of you two, and same goes for you Emily" Bean shouted as Spectra hurried to Catherine's side. "The least you could do is shut up for the ten minutes we're spending here, paying respects to Taylor."

Emily glanced over at Sophia's phone. "Ten minutes is up. It's nine thirty already, let's go back to the cabin."

Shooting one last glare at Emily, Bean started back to the house at a clip pace, Spectra and the distraught Catherine following close behind.

As soon as they were out of earshot Ellie turned to Emily. "So I've been thinking, if the killer is one of the others, then we should have precautions overnight."

"Don't worry, I already thought about it." Emily insisted as she shot a quick glance back. "We'll make Catherine and Spectra sleep in the living room. The rest of us can sleep in our own rooms with the doors locked." Wrinkling her nose she amended, "Well, after we've closed off my vent that is. The smell is permeating the entire house thanks to the fact that Tay was in the vent."

"Let's hope the other girls agree." Sophia muttered.

"They don't have a choice." Emily said grimly as she opened the front door.

As they stepped into the bright interior of the cabin Emily wasted no time in walking over to the three girls who were all helping themselves to some food. "Ellie and I have been discussing tonight." She announced. "Spectra and Catherine will be sleeping out here for tonight and the rest of us are going to go to our rooms and lock the doors."

Bean stared at the girl incredulously for a second before asking, "What has gotten into you Emily?"

"Concern for the well being of my non murderous friends." Emily said shortly.

Bean was about object only to feel a hand gripping her shoulder. She turned around and saw Spectra shaking her head. With a sigh of defeat, she backed away.

"Okay Emily, we'll play by your rules for now." Spectra softly hissed. "Because at the end of the day, we're right and you're wrong."

Bean shook her head and muttered, "You know what, I don't actually care about your rules." Standing up straighter she spat, "Spectra is staying in her own room."

"It isn't worth it Bean." Spectra warned softly.

"Yeah it is." Bean stood nose to nose with Emily and added, "Catherine can stay in my room too."

"Careful Bean, you're not in a position that allows you to talk to me like that." Emily hissed back. " You're outnumbered and outmatched. I'd suggest you back down. You're talking to the leader now and you'll do as I say."

"No, I won't. You aren't the leader. Taylor was the leader, Mackenzie was the leader. You're just playing as a bully and a dictator." Bean's words rang true but Emily could care less. "Catherine and Spectra are sleeping in my room."

"No, I'll sleep in the main room." Catherine whispered from the counter, food clearly forgotten. "Don't' fight over me, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Spectra asked softly, "We don't mind."

"It's okay." Catherine turned back to her food and effectively ended the entire conversation.

"Well, if you want to sleep with a murderess, that's _your_ choice." Sophia shrugged. "I'm going upstairs with Ellie." Linking arms with her much taller friend, the two girls left.

With one last glare at Bean, Emily stalked away. "If you die, we aren't holding a funeral for you. We'll dump your body in the river."

"River?" Spectra muttered to herself softly. "We don't have a river."

* * *

 _Bean_

As she settled into bed, Bean looked at her blue haired friend nervously. While she was fairly certain that Spectra had never killed anyone she wasn't sure if that didn't mean she wouldn't. When they had met the first time, Bean had picked up a weird vibe from her, like in any minute she would explode. Maybe it had something to do with her overly pale skin and unnatural purple eyes, or the fact that she always seemed like a social outcast, even when she had friends surrounding her.

"Friends, yeah right." Bean muttered aloud without meaning to.

"What is it?" Spectra asked softly, shaking the sleep that had just begun to fall over her from her eyes.

"Nothing, just thinking out loud." Bean muttered and turned in her bed to face the wall, pulling the hood of her hoodie up as if it would block out the negative thoughts that swirled around her. Surely this would all make sense in the morning. Once the trio of girls that had instated themselves as rulers over the other saw that neither Spectra nor Catherine were killers everything would calm down, right?

 _In my dreams_ , she thought dismally.

Without Bean even noticing it, sleep drifted out to cover her like a veil. The word _tomorrow_ drifted through her head like she was watching Annie and images of Taylor's dead body kept cropping up, leaving her feeling restless. starte

It wasn't until she snapped from her nightmare and began calming down that she actually managed a few hours of undisturbed sleep.

Something standing over her was what finally woke her up again. Blearily opening her eyes, Bean peered through the darkness, trying to see what had woken her up. "Spectra?" She asked softly.

A long silky black tendril covered her mouth, preventing her from saying another word. Looking up, Bean found herself face to face with the same tall suited man as last night. Before she could scream, before she could move at all, another tentacle wrapped itself tightly around her waist and she was abruptly pulled into nothingness as the creature winked out of existence with her in tow.

With a sharp crack both her and the strange creature reappeared outside. Finding her mouth no longer covered, Bean was tempted to scream but stopped herself. She wanted to know about this creature too much to ruin things now.

The same aura of evil hovered around the tall man like monster as before but it had dimmed considerably. It seemed that it no longer wanted Bean to run away. Standing before her, still holding her captive with one one of the many tentacles that protruded from it's back, the creature appeared to be considering her in confusion.

"Who are you and why are you holding me!?" She asked in a whisper, curiosity battling her fear into submission.

Completely ignoring her, the suited creature lifted her into the air and gently shook her up and down, head tilted to one side. Reaching another tendril up it plucked the hood off her head. "I could have sworn you had ears." It mused softly in a delicately mannered hiss.

 _So it speaks and it's probably male._ Feeling slightly dizzy Bean asked, "Will you please put me down?"

"I prefer this actually." The creature remarked, slowly turning her around as if to examine her from all angles. "What happened to your tail?"

 _Am I really having this conversation?_ Bean wondered as she ran a hand curiously along one of the monster's tentacles. Warmth instantly met her fingers, contrasting the cold that the creature seemed to emanate. "What are you doing?"

"That does not concern you." He answered shortly.

"I hate to burst your bubble but due to the fact that it's me suspended in the air, it actually does."

"What bubble are you talking about?" The creature asked in confusion. "I do not have a bubble." Tightening his hold around her slightly the monster asked, "Do you have something stuffed up your back?"

Blood running cold Bean softly whispered, "No, I don't know what you're talking about."

"You are bad at lying." The creature stated. To her discomfort he reached up another tentacle and tugged on the zipper of her jacket. "Save yourself the trouble and answer the question."

"S-stop it." Not liking where things were going Bean franticly tried to pull the monsters tentacle away but to no avail. The creature deftly liberated her of her hoodie with the attitude of one dissecting a fascinating specimen. The mental comparison was unnerving to say the least.

Turning her around so her back was facing him, the creature queried, "What _are_ these?"

"N-nothing!" Bean squeaked. _No, this is not happening, this can_ not _be happening._

Tracing the graceful shapes pressed to her back the man monster muttered, "My my, you seem to get only curiouser and curiouser. Do tell me, are these _wings_?"

 _Shit fuck shit fuck_. "N-no!"

"You really need to work on lying." With two deft strokes the monster somehow sliced neat slits in the back of her overlarge tee she used as a nightgown.

"STOP!" She squeaked and wriggled as the monster reached into the back of her nightgown and pulled two wings free. One was a snowy white angel wing and the other was the rough leather wing of a bat. As her control on herself finally slipped, Bean's fox ears poked their way through her hair and her tail unfurled gracefully from under her nightgown.

"Absolutely fascinating." The monster marveled as at last he set her down. "I do not mean to be rude my dear but what exactly are you?"

Another chill ran down her back and, unwillingly, Bean folded her wings around her bare arms in an attempt to stay warm. "None of your damn business."

If the creature had possessed eyebrows, one of them would have been raised. "Perhaps it is."

"Well p-perhaps I should know who it is that decided to treat me in such a r-rude way." Bean huffed, wrapping her legs in her fluffy tail and shivering violently.

"I am not the one who possesses both wings and a tail." He commented dryly.

"What even are you?" She asked, furious all over again for his treatment of her, examining her like she was a sideshow freak. _I am a freak…_ She reminded herself dismally.

"Something the likes of which you have never seen before." _Well that's true enough. It's not every day you meet a monster that looks like it escaped from Japan._

"If you don't tell me," Bean ground out through her chattering teeth, "I'll scream."

Seemingly amused, the creature crossed his thin arms and advised, "That would not go well for you."

"Are you _threatening_ me?" She asked, incredulous.

"It appears that I am." Still keeping that aura of amusement circling around himself, the monster gestured for her to continue with a long, white fingered, hand. "Please, do tell me who exactly you are."

"I'm Bean." She muttered grudgingly.

With noise of impatience the monster said, "I already knew that. I am asking _what_ you are."

 _Whoah, not creepy at all._ " _I'm_ none of your damn business." Stooping to pick up her hoodie Bean started to put it on, only to have it plucked from her grasp by the man monster. "Look," She started feeling impatient and more than a little cold. "Can't I just leave?"

"No." The monster replied softly. "I think not."

Chills caused not from the cold but from fear raced up her spine. "Please let me go, I've got nothing against you. I just want to go back to bed and not end up dyin-" A stab of horror sliced through Bean as the realization struck her. "Oh god… It was you! You killed Taylor and M-"

"I have no notion of what you are talking about." The creature interrupted impatiently.

"Oh now look who's lying!" Bean started backing away, fear starting to short circuit her brain.

"I had absolutely nothing to do with the deaths of your friends." He snapped. "You are being absolutely ridiculous."

That confirmed it. "You said you knew nothing about it!" Giving her wings a few flaps to steady herself, Bean cried, "You murdered them!" With that she took off running, praying she was fast enough to escape.

A deafening burst of static caused her to stumble and fall in terror as the monster appeared before her. Looming suddenly with all the malice she had sensed in him the creature's face seemed to rip open as it grew a jagged mouth. "I told you," It hissed, "That it would be unwise to run. I meant it."

Fearing for her life, Bean tried to scramble back from the monstrosity that was standing in front of her. Folding her wings over her face to shield her from the sight, she tried to fight the overwhelming numbness that swamped her body. She shut off her mind and prayed that it will be over quickly. To her surprise nothing of that sort ever happened.

Trembling violently, Bean slowly uncovered her face and stared up at the monster. The mouth he had grown was now gone, replaced by the pale smoothness he formerly had. For a moment, he stood there, regarding her coolly, then another loud burst of static wrent the air and he was gone.

Slowly, unsure if she was dreaming or not, Bean got to her feet. Why had he left? Still shaking, she carefully tucked her wings back into her ruined nightgown as she wondered, why hadn't he finished her off like he did to her friends? At the sickening thought Bean's heart skipped a few beats.

Searching around numbly for her hoodie, Bean realized that the monster had stolen it. With a painful grind of her teeth, Bean resigned herself to going back inside the cabin with no way of hiding her… abnormalities. With quick steps she darted to the back door and prayed that Catherine didn't wake up.

Thankfully, as Bean skirted the edges of the living room, she found a soundly sleeping Catherine. With silent footsteps Bean crept back to her room and peered inside. Spectra seemed to be asleep but Bean couldn't be sure because Spectra's back was too her. _Either way she isn't looking._

Heart racing, Bean dashed across the room and buried herself in the thick, oddly smelling immediately began to drain from her leaving only the nervousness that creature had left.

What if really was the murderer…

"Where were you?"

Bean froze in fear at the sound of Spectra's voice. Praying that her tail wasn't poking out from under the sheets Bean pulled back enough of the covers to make herself be heard and whispered, "I was just using the restroom."

"You didn't leave the room. You flat vanished." Spectra's voice was chilled and calculated. "And where exactly is this restroom? Because you're clearly freezing. I can hear you shivering. Which means that you were outside."

"No, I wasn't." Bean hissed, resentment at her friend's welling up within her. "I was using the restroom. It was cold."

"Don't lie to me Bean. I've dealt with liars and trust me, you aren't good at it."

Anger building in her system Bean spat, "I'm not the only one who's been lying lately Spectra but at least _I_ don't pry. Even though you're the most suspicious person here, I'm trusting you. If I was outside, that's my business."

"I didn't lie to you."

"Who were you calling then?" Bean shot feircly.

Spectra didn't answer. Instead she gritted her teeth audibly and shot her a sharp look "If you want to play it that way, then it's fine by me."

"So if you don't mind, I'd like to go back to sleep." Bean gruffly muttered, praying that Spectra would just leave it be.

"Well gee Bean, I hope I don't wake you up." Spectra venomously hissed at her. Getting up from her bed, she grabbed her pillow and dragged her sheets along with her.

"And where do you think you're going" Bean asked, using anger to mask the nervousness she felt.

"To the living room! At least I'm not surrounded by liars there."

"Just stop." Bean begged, feeling her control of the fear she still felt slipping. "I'm sorry, I was just outside because I heard a noise and wanted to see what it was. I swear I didn't do anything else, I was just scared is all."

Spectra stopped by the door and gave her a concerned look, "Truth?"

"Yeah, I swear."

Spectra looked down before sharply replying, "I'm sorry Bean. But until you start telling me the truth, I have no solution but to find someone who won't hide things from me, especially in times like these."

 _If she leaves, I'll be all along. That monster might come back._ Wild panic filling her, Bean sat up in bed, praying that her hair was mussed enough to hide her ears. "There was something out there Spectra. Someone. I don't know what or who but please, don't leave."

Spectra stood there a moment in silence before slowly walking back to her bed. "What are you talking about? What do you mean by something?"

"I don't know." And it wasn't a lie. Bean had no idea what to think of the monster who had almost killed her. "But please, stay here."

"I'll stay." Spectra replaced her sheets and pillow. "But I want a better explanation tomorrow."

Relieved that Spectra wasn't going to leave, Bean gratefully borrowed down into her covers, _That was a really close one. I can't risk it anything like this again._ With those thoughts in her mind, Bean fell into a restless sleep.

 **A/N: As IamDeadGhost so eloquently put it 'I swear officer, she said she was 18'. I don't write hentai. I swear I don't write hentai. JUST BECAUSE SLENDERMAN RIPPED HER DRESS DOES NOT MAKE IT HENTAI!**

 **IamDeadGhost: It can easily be just your average normal tentacle porn.**

 **Q: Just clearing that up…**

 **IamDeadGhost: It's not the only thing that needs to be cleaned up. *Wink* *Wink* *Nudge* *Nudge***

 **Q: It's not my fault Slenderman is basically a Japaneses sex symbol. Oh well, until I finish the next chapter… Goodbye.**


	7. On the Subject of Hoodies

**A/N: So, after that lovely example of not hentai, I feel a celebration is in order.** _ **Bring out the murderers!**_ **Whenever something good happens it only seems right to celebrate by brutally murdering someone!**

 **Enjoy this heinous deed!**

 _The Puppeteer_

"But we can't _just_ make art from her you know." Puppet's voice was reasonable but inside a slight twinge of frustration grated at him. Sometimes, his boyfriend, the Bloody Painter, could be rather obstinate. Tonight was clearly one of those times.

With a drawn out sigh Painter looked up at Puppet dolefully. "Making her into a mere puppet isn't my typical medium. For me, the act would be no fun and leave no masterpiece. After all, don't you usually keep your puppets for a while?"

Thinking about his closet upstairs, which occasionally did house a human puppet or two, Puppet had to admit that Painter had a point. "I'm not saying we can't make art," He protested, "It's just that we're supposed to work together on this."

Sticking out his bottom lip in a pout that Puppet had to fight hard not to kiss, Painter mumbled, "I don't usually work with other people."

"You never work with other people." Zero, who was lazily draped over one of the soft armchairs near the dimly glowing fireplace, seemed to be enjoying the dialogue immensely.

Painter shot her a glare. "Neither do you."

With a delighted cackle Zero sat up and fixed Painter with a smirk. "Only because I don't need help. Nor do you, most of the time for sure, but Catherine is…" She trailed off devilishly. " _More_ than just you can handle."

Jane, who was on the other side of the room, covered her mouth quickly to stifle a laugh before asking, "I meant to ask you earlier Zero, how did your assigned murder go?"

With a languid yawn Zero groused, "Boring, absolutely boring. She wasn't even that fast."

"Not every murder is a thrill." Puppet commented dryly, concealing a smirk at Zero's complaints.

"Yeah but it was like shooting fish in a shot glass. She was there and she couldn't get out." With a shudder Zero added, "Also that monstrous chest of hers jiggled. It was disgusting."

"And yet you survived and they swallowed the lie." Jane interjected quickly, the look of one who has seen too much plain on her face. "They believed it was an accident, right?"

"Yup." With a shrug Zero leaned back over the arm of her chair and touched the floor with the tips of her fingers, bending her back almost double. "They're all idiots. The real challenge would have been getting this done in half the time. At this rate, the rest of them won't last the week."

"After tonight, they might smarten up." Puppet pointed out. "Especially if we go with my plan."

"Hanging her above Taylor's bed isn't art." Painter objected stubbornly. "It's a high degree of twisted."

"Isn't all your art a high degree of twisted?" Jane asked curiously.

Flustered, Painter waved his arms around wildly. "Irrelevant!"

"Why can't you just compromise?" Momentarily confused, Puppet looked around for a moment before finding Sally sitting right beside him on the couch.

Painter leaned around Puppet and asked, "When did you get here?"

With a smile that was a little too innocent Sally replied, "Irrelevant."

Grumbling Painter threw himself back into the couch's cushions. "And I suppose you have a genius idea Sally?"

"First you slit her wrists so she bleeds out then you could hang her from the chandelier!" She announced brightly.

Shooting the small eight year old a suspicious glance, Zero asked, "How do you know there's a chandelier?"

Face blank Sally said, "I don't know."

"The idea actually might work." Mused Puppet, uninterested in how exactly Sally had got her information. "It would give the scene elements of suicide but it wouldn't detract from the obvious otherworldly element either. After all," He grinned at Sally, "I'm guessing this chandelier is a long way up?"

"Yup!" She bounced slightly as she continued. "And according to the plot ch- Um, what I meant to say was, _I_ know there isn't a ladder there!"

Zero gave Sally a _what the fuck_ look and asked, "Isn't anyone even slightly curious about _how_ she knows all this?"

Fixing Zero with a blank expression similar to the one that Sally had worn, Painter asked, "I don't know, are we?"

"You should be!" Zero bursted. "She's not acting normally!"

Struggling to keep a grin from breaking out on his face, Puppet deadpanned, "Irrelivent." Judging by the snort that came from behind him, Jane wasn't as good at masking her laughter.

"You three are impossible." Zero announced loftily, grin returning.

"But in all seriousness," Painter hurriedly said, " _if_ you slit her wrists beforehand, I could get some pretty interesting art, especially if it splatters…"

Tuning out his boyfriend's musings with practiced ease, Puppet threw an arm around Painter's shoulders and drew him in, effectively silencing his rambles. "So, shall we go?" He asked, after a red faced Painter had stopped berating him for such _stupid acts of affection_.

"We might as well." Painter decided with a shrug. "After all, I need to have enough time to complete a masterpiece." He got to his feet sharply. "Come on Puppet." Still smirking, Puppet lazily got to his feet and took a moment to stretch his long limbs before following his boyfriend out of the room.

As they exited the den, they were both met with a rather flustered seeming Slenderman. In contrast to his usual directness and the cold deliberate way he carried himself, Slender was standing in the middle of the entranceway, looking unsure of what he was supposed to be doing.

"Hey Slendy," Puppet greeted. "What's up?"

Turning quickly to them, Slenderman stood there for a moment as if trying to decipher what Puppet was saying to him. Tentacles waving agitatedly in the air, he finally responded, "None of your concern."

"Fair enough." Not wanting to anger Slenderman when he was so clearly off his game, Puppet started to walk past him to the front door only to be stopped by Painter's voice.

"Quick question Slenderman," Spinning to face his boyfriend, Puppet motioned for Painter to shut up but apparently, Painter had never learned any sign language as a child. "Why are you holding a hoodie."

Looking down at his long fingered, white hands, Slenderman noticed the old blue hoodie in shock. Aura in the room changing dramatically, Slenderman snapped the hoodie behind his back and muttered, "It has nothing to do with you."

"Yeah but let's say it does," Puppet, Painter and Slenderman all looked to the staircase to find Jeff the killer's signature smirk greeting them. "Who'd you steal it from?"

"I did not steal it." Slenderman ground out, clearly at the end of his rope. Noticing this Puppet started feeling a little edgy. If Slenderman was going to blow up, he didn't really want himself or, for that matter, his boyfriend, in the same room when it happened.

"Okay, so was it like a misunderstanding?" Jeff asked, obviously enjoying himself. "Were you out hunting and just happened to pick up someone's hoodie before you ate them? Were you all like, 'Oh dude, sorry about that' and he was like, 'It's okay man. No harm no foul'? You don't usually do stupid things while out k-"

" _I had other things on my mind!_ " Slenderman roared, effectively silencing Jeff's jabbs. With a harsh _crack_ he vanished from existence.

"Huh, was it something I said?" Jeff asked, a hint of a laugh tugging at his voice.

"No shit Sherlock." Painter muttered foully before following Puppet out of the house. Once out of Jeff's earshot, Painter looked over at Puppet and commented, "Sometimes, I think that Jeff might kill Slenderman by driving him to commit suicide."

With a sharp laugh, Puppet said, "You're not the only one who thinks that."

* * *

 _Catherine_

With a soft groan of frustration Catherine flipped over to her other side and wished she could just go back to sleep. Reality was so hard to deal with. It was bad enough that Taylor had been killed, now Mackenzie was dead as well and she was the prime suspect.

Well, maybe not the prime suspect, Spectra seemed to be pretty high up there herself, but Catherine did seem to be getting the short end of the stick an awful lot lately.

Turning over again Catherine felt a cool draft hit her face. It wasn't the first time that night that something similar had happened. The first time she had looked through her lashes and seen the blurry figure of Bean sneak past. This time though when she opened her eyes to see who it was there wasn't anyone to see.

"Why did I volunteer to sleep out here?" She groused under her breath.

"Perhaps you were trying to be considerate?" A soft, doleful voice responded. Starting, Catherine bolted upright in bed to look for the owner of the words.

Sitting on the top of the bar was a thin man in a blue work suit. He had a white mask pulled halfway over his face and a paintbrush hung loosely in one hand. "It's very nice of you to make this easy for us you know." He continued in that same, soft, saddish voice. "It's hard to properly paint if you are forced to lug your paints over the canvas."

 _Just great, a loony._ The sarcastic thought was overridden by the mind numbing fear that was slowly encasing Catherine's mind. Tears started to pour down her cheeks as she whimpered, "D-did you kill Taylor?"

"It's rude to accuse people wrongly you know." Slowly the man slipped off the counter and walked towards Catherine's terrified form. "I wouldn't have done it that messily."

"Okay, now you've got me curious," Another voice, this one lazy, came from behind the frozen girl. "Do you always banter with your victims or is this a special case?" Immediately Catherine tried to turn her head only to be stopped by a glowing mass of golden thread that had begun to wrap itself around mouth. Panicked, she attempted to scream but all the noise that escaped was a soft squeak.

"Now, now. We don't want to wake the others. Their time hasn't arrived yet." The man with the paintbrush walked closer to her and stared into her eyes unnervingly. "And to answer your question Puppet, no, I don't. I typically don't have the desire to. So you should feel really lucky Miss Catherine."

Catherine tried desperately to back away from the man but the golden threads that were gagging her were now writhing around her arms and legs, effectively preventing any further movement.

"So, now that we've got her hogtied, what should we do with her?" The person behind her asked delightly. "Oh, I know. Let's play a game. The game's called 'Can my dumb friends tell if I committed suicide or was killed'! It's a fun game for the whole family."

With a sigh the man before her brought a hand up to his temple. "Puppet, do you always say whatever comes to your mind?"

"Is there something wrong with that?"

The mask man before her stood there in silence for a moment as if struggling to find the right words to convey his incredulity but eventually seemed to give up. "As I was going to say," He started at last. "Don't worry. Your recently dead friend didn't reek of murder, but we'll be more generous." Looking up, presumably at Puppet who was still behind her, the killer tilted his head. "You know, now that I've seen the chandelier, I'm not sure it's going to hold her weight. No offense, but you're a little round."

"Sure it will!" The Puppeteer smirked as he moved to stand beside the other killer. "So Catherine, we're gonna hang you from the ceiling!" As he spoke Catherine noticed that the golden strings that held her fast seemed to be coming from his gloved fingers. "How's that doll, you like the sound of that?"

Catherine began to cry in earnest as soft whimpers escaped through her covered mouth. "What's that? I don't speak whimper." Puppet grinned wildly, displaying a mouth that glowed gold. "I'm just going to _assume_ you agreed with me" Suddenly the world started to fall away beneath the terrified girl as the strings began to lift her into the air. The man controling her somehow followed, hoisted aloft by the same threads binding her.

"So, nothing personal but I'm gonna have to slit your wrists." Puppet mentioned conversationally. "Painter said he wants blood dripping from the ceiling and who am I to deny my boyfriend?"

As her body came to a stop next to the chandelier Puppet called down to Painter, "What do you want her to look like? Any particular pose?"

"Make her look like she's praying. It'll condense the flow of blood into one stream instead of two."

 _How can these people talk about killing me like it's just another day at work or something?_ Catherine wondered wildly. _Is this how Taylor died? Was she killed by someone who forgot about her afterward because she was just another corpse?_ The thought triggered another chain of sobs.

"Listen, could you stop crying?" Painter snapped from below her. "You're going to ruin my art once I start painting. I can't work with a wet canvas for something like this." When she didn't stop crying Painter snorted in exasperation. "Make her pray then slit her wrists. She's getting on my nerves."

"You know, somehow I got the impression that all artists were patient. Am I wrong or is it just you?" Puppet commented dryly from beside her before tugging on a few of the golden threads to bring her hands together. Addressing her, Puppet said, "Now all I gotta do is hang you from the chandelier. Easy." With a few more pulls and tugs her affixed her to the chandelier.

"Now, I'm gonna have to kill you. Sorry about that sweetheart. But, look on the bright side, you'll finally be with your darling Taylor." With a grin that informed Catherine Puppet was not actually sorry he pulled out a gleaming knife and with two deft strokes, made long incisions down each of her arms from the wrist to the elbow.

The pain was instantaneous, burning and sharp, but with it came an odd sense of relief. Puppet was right, in the end, she would see Taylor again. As the blood began to trickle down her arms and to the carpet below in a thin, steady stream, her mind started to fade out. Looking down she watched as Painter lived up to his name by catching the blood in a shallow bowl he had probably found in the kitchen, before dipping his paint brush in the crimson liquid.

 _To think, my last act will to become a piece of art._ Catherine thought, a peaceful smile tugging at her numbing lips. Even as she watched Painter start spirling her blood out over the living room in the shape of a blooming rose, her vision faded out and she was gone.

* * *

 _?_

"Alright, think idiot, how does one jump from one space to another without leaving any traces." He slapped on the side of his head multiple times in frustration, "Come on, this should be easy for someone like me." With a groan of irritation he muttered, "It would have been easier if _she_ was here."

He had been pacing in front of the same spot for a full day. While he was absolutely sure he had seen a guy and a girl pop into existence on this very patch of leaf strewn ground, he still had no idea how they had accomplished the feat. It shouldn't have _been_ possible but obviously it was.

 _Maybe you're just not looking at it from the right angle._

"Maybe you should shut up and let me think!" His hands grabbed a fist full of his hair, stretching them with full force. But just as he was about to rip the flesh from out of his skull, he felt the air around the spot change and grow colder. Excited, he jumped back and hid in the surrounding trees, waiting. _This time, you had better absorb everything asshole. And this time you better not fuck up._

Seconds later there was a snap that cut through the silent air and two people stepped out of nothing. The taller one looked quite pleased with himself. The shorter one was just covered in blood.

"The rose is a classic symbol of love and new beginnings." The shorter one said heatedly. "For Ren, both fit. Her death was sending her to a new beginning and to Taylor's love."

"Blah!" The taller one waved his hands expressively, "It's too soft and sentimental. Usually, all the art I hear about from you sounds epic but the one time I'm working with you, you chose something stupid and lame."

The hidden boy raised an eyebrow _So she's still alright, for now._ He got up from his position and thought about engaging the two men, but a sudden headache made up his mind for him. _Next time._ Right now, he was just going to follow them and gather more information on what he was dealing with. _That's five. Three male, one female, and the tall faceless fuck. Seems simple enough._

"So, do you know who's next?" The short boy asked as he followed the taller boy deeper into the forest.

"I'm pretty sure LJ and EJ are scheduled for tomorrow night." With a laugh he added, "Not that they'll ever work together."

"Yeah, that's great Puppet, but who're they killing?" The short boy muttered in exasperation.

"I think they're killing-" The two of them vanished into thin air.

The boy ground his teeth together. "FUCK! NOT AGAIN!" Just when he was about to have another mental breakdown, he smiled and chuckled instead. "One more day, that's all it takes."

 _But there are seven killers now._

"Yeah, I know that asshole. I am you, and you are me." Sighing the boy muttered, "I really need to stop talking to myself."

* * *

 _Slenderman_

Looking up from his restless pacing, Slenderman was once more faced with the stolen hoodie that he still held in one tendril. This should not have happened. He was getting weak if he was failing to kill one puny human. Shaking the hoodie experimentally, Slenderman at last sighed and tossed the hoodie onto his desk behind him. Returning to his pacing, Slenderman tried to make sense of what was going through his head.

He was angry, mostly at himself. Angry, but why? He was probably furious with himself because he had failed to kill the human.

And yet that was not quite it. There was more to it than just that. I am angry that I almost killed Bean. He realized with a start.

I should not care at all. Which led to the second emotion he was feeling in over abundance. Confusion, overwhelming, mind numbing puzzlement. Of course, that should not surprise him, after all, there was quite a lot to be mystified over. Especially Bean.

Bean was composed of conflicting pieces that somehow fit together and acted like a human. Part demon part angel? He wondered briefly before brushing the idea away. That might explain the wings but not the ears and tail. Although, he considered dryly, there is not much to explain that part of her anatomy.

Slight shifts in the aura of his room and a sudden presence caused him to lose his train of thought and turn around abruptly.

Ben was lounging against the closed door.

"So, Jeff said you were going haywire! I had to confirm the rumors myself." His cocky grin only widened when he saw the momentarily forgotten piece of clothing sitting in a heap atop Slenderman's desk. "And here I thought Jeff was lying!"

Composing himself Slenderman evenly asked, "Benjamin, what exactly are you doing in here?"

Strolling over Slenderman's desk, Ben picked up Bean's hoodie and held it out appraisingly for a moment before- Slenderman could hardly comprehend his nerve- slipping it on. "Wow, why did you steal a girl's hoodie?"

With barely controlled anger Slenderman reached out a tentacle and grabbed Ben by the back of the hoodie. "Benjamin-"

"Seriously though," He continued as if he were not suspended seven feet off the ground. "Isn't that like something a guy does if he's staking a girl, steal her stuff. Something about how it smells like her…"

Much too far. With a rough shake Slenderman attempted to dislodge Ben from the hoodie. "Of all the CreepyPastas in the world, why did I end up with the immature ones?" He wondered aloud.

Looking slightly dizzy Ben suggested, "Maybe because all the mature ones are too smart to come here. After all, who in their right mind would want to share a house with a Japanese-"

"This joke again!" With more force that was probably needed, Slenderman pried Ben from the hoodie and watched as the small boy fell to the ground.

"But you have to admit," Ben continued, wincing softly as he struggled to his feet. "It's a good one."

"OUT!" Slenderman bellowed, abandoning his attempt to control his temper.

"Whatever." As Ben strolled from the room, all too casual for the present situation, he called jovially over his shoulder, "Have fun with your girl problems." Slenderman slammed the door behind him.

With a frustrated groan, Slenderman rubbed his face where his eyes should have been and held up Bean's hoodie, feeling as if the garment had personally wronged him. It hung limply in his grasp, as unassuming as it was intrusive. Slowly, as if he was afraid it would bite, Slenderman brought the garment closer to examine it. The soft scent of lavender that had been set on fire wafted up from the fabric.

Remembering Ben's words, Slenderman jerked back in shock and dropped the hoodie once more, regarding it as one might a rabid animal that has somehow found its way into your house. How on earth did I manage to bring it without noticing? Memories of Bean cowering before him, mismatching wings covering her face flashed before him and he sighed. It was clear to him now why he had not noticed.

She had run. He had told her not to but she had anyway. Yet I did not kill her. This is most irregular. Slenderman had almost killed her but something had stopped him. Maybe it had been the multiple jagged scars running down those odd wings of hers that had accomplished that.

Ridiculous, I do not waste pity on humans. But, she was not exactly human, was she now. Once more he felt the tug of a memory but he suppressed it. I do not know this girl.

Gently, Slenderman picked up the hoodie once more and placed it on his desk only to sit in his chair and stare at it some more. Fury and confusion pulsed behind his temples but he did not bother to attempt to calm the headache. And here I thought only Jeffrey could cause such irritation.

A soft knock on his door interrupted Slenderman's thoughts completely. Letting out a world weary sigh, Slenderman picked up the hoodie and placed it in an empty drawer of his desk before gesturing for the door to open.

It swung in to reveal Masky's impatient form.

"Is there something I can do for you?" Slenderman asked, adopting a calm air that he did not actually feel.

"I was wondering if there's something I can do for you." Masky's voice held a note of concern.

"If there is something I need I shall send for you." Slenderman answered shortly. "Why are you really here?"

"You seem a little…" Masky trailed off, uncertainly tainting his voice. "Not yourself lately. Off."

"Does my being 'off' actually concern you?" The irritation in Slenderman's voice was quickly rising to the surface.

"With all due respect Slenderman, it does. You're giving Hoodie, Toby and myself migraines. I'm currently the only one still functioning so I'm coming to you and asking, what's wrong." Masky crossed his arms obstinately.

Slenderman was silent for a moment as he tried to calm himself down properly. It would not do to have his proxies aware of his own… issues. It was not their business to know. "My apologies." He said at last. "I shall take your discomfort into consideration." When Masky did not move, Slenderman found his irritation spring forth once more. "Is there something else?"

"What's wrong?" Masky repeated, posture stubborn, voice unyielding.

"It is nothing that cannot be fixed!" Slenderman's voice rose slightly as his temper flared. At once Masky winced, no doubt suffering from his sudden change in mood. Forcing calm once more, Slenderman continued, "I have made some mistakes but I shall fix them forthwith. There is nothing for you to be worried about."

"Does this have something to do with the hoodie that Jeff said you had?" Masky ventured uncertainly.

"Jeffrey is in the habit of sticking his nose where it does not belong." Slenderman ground out, fighting to remain even tempered. "I would advise you to not do the same."

Knowing full well when to shut up, Masky backed up till he was in the hall outside of Slenderman's office. "Fine, just can you fix the headaches. Toby keeps yelling about waffles and it's driving me insane."

"Very well." With more calm than he felt, the door closed in Masky's face.

Sighing, Slenderman pulled Bean's hoodie out of his desk drawer only to stare at it in confusion. _Highly unusually don't you think?_ He instantly recognized the remembered voice. The demon and him had been discussing an interesting child, an anomaly of sorts.

 _She won't last._

As Slenderman stared down at Bean's hoodie, a piece snapped into the puzzle. Perhaps he did know this girl.

 **A/N: Yay more dead people.**

 **This was an excellent chapter on all counts. Well, on most counts. Someone suggested Slenderman wearing a flowery apron and cleaning. That didn't make the cut.**

 **IamDeadGhost: Hold on, hold on, back up a little. WHAT?!**

 **Q: Um… It was Emmie darling's idea.**

 **IDG: I'm sorry, WHAT?!**

 **Q: … InnocentUntilProvenGuilty!**

 **IDG: WHAT?!**

 **Q: (You know, he keeps saying that like it's gonna change something) Until I get around to posting another chapter, farewells and dumb endings.**

 **IDG: WHAT?!**


	8. Trapped

**A/N: So, I know this is going to sound pathetic to some of you but 12 Ways to Die just reached 1,000 views. This is the first time I've ever had a story that popular. Thank you guys for loving this story that much, that means an immeasurable amount to me.**

 **Enjoy this new chapter!**

 _Ellie_

"So we can rule out Ren being the killer." Muttered Emily sarcastically as she stared up at the hypnotically swaying body.

"It appears to be a suicide." Pointed out Ellie, gesturing at what were clearly Catherine's slit wrists.

"Um guys," Sophia murmured, tugging gently at Ellie's elbow. "I don't think that chandelier was built to hold Ren's weight."

Emily, completely ignoring Sophia's quiet words, shot back at Ellie, "Yeah, because everyone who commits suicide has enough time to draw a huge rose in their one blood."

"Notice I said _appears_ ," muttered Ellie, gently nudging the shallow basin of blood beneath Catherine that served as the center for the flower. "How would someone even begin to get her up there though?" She asked in half hearted puzzlement.

Pulling harder on Ellie's sleeve Sophia said, with a note of alarm in her voice, "I'm serious, that chandelier is going to fall any second now and it's going to hit us."

Irritated Ellie glared down at her friend. "So?"

Deadpan Sophia responded, "Catherine would squish me and I don't wanna die."

"We're all going to die anyway." Emily said unconcernedly as she walked over to the kitchen where Bean and Spectra both sat huddled. "And we all know who's going to kill us."

Ignoring the budding and, at this point, rather repetitive argument behind her, Ellie sighed and tipped the blood filled basin over. The first body had been funny, the second body had been fun, this one however was starting to be a bore. With no real interest Ellie watched as the blood broke through the clotted skin that had formed and slowly trickled across the carpet, following the indentation of a shoe. Brow furrowed, she bent down to look closer. Clearly, someone had stood here long enough to leave a slight impression and whoever it had been was, judging by the print's size, probably male.

 _Left by accident, or planted on purpose?_ She wondered.

Bending down beside her Sophia murmured, "It appears we really are out of our depth here." Reaching down with small fingers she touched the surface of the blood. "Do you think we should tell the others we've been barking up the wrong tree?"

Smoothly getting to her feet Ellie responded, "I don't bark, I hiss. There's a difference." Turning to face the bickering girls Ellie schooled her face into an expression of Idon'tgiveashit and brought her hands together in a single sharp clap.

"Okay," She drawled once everyone was looking at her. "We've gotten to play the 'whodunit' game for a while now and we've all had our fun. I for one have no complaints with the price but…" She trailed off and smirked at Bean and Spectra, "Others might not want that toll to catch up to them. Now we have three dead bodies, half a suspect, and a possible serial killer on our hands."

Sophia nudged Ellie gently in the side. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Shut up," she muttered sourly. "I'm just getting to the good part."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Emily asked, disgruntled.

Gesturing behind herself, Ellie announced, "I'm talking about the fact that we are not alone in these woods. I might be completely wrong, but as it stands, I honestly think we're looking at a serial killer."

"What about Spectra and Bean?" Sophia asked, confused.

"I'm not sure it was them." Ellie answered, voice reasonable.

"Listen to yourself!" Emily barked. "It was _clearly_ these two!"

"I think I'm going to have to side with Emily on this one," Sophia shot Ellie a look that made it plain she believed her tall friend had lost it at last. "I saw the print as well but it could have been planted."

Glancing at Spectra, Ellie felt some of her resolve slipping. If it did turn out to be Spectra, anything that happened would be her fault. With a shake of her head Ellie said resolutely, "This is a horror movie. We're doing what every single chick does in every single horror flick, look sluty and act dumb. When was the last time you saw a chick act up or think outside the box in a horror flick?"

"Aliens?"

With a snort Sophia muttered, "Em, that doesn't count. That movie was more science fiction than horror and the sequels didn't keep the suspense going."

"Let's just agree that you're both wrong and move on." Responded Ellie dryly. "I'm serious. I don't know about you guys but I want to live to watch Youtube again. The only way we're going to do that is if we work together."

"What are you trying to say?" Emily asked venomously.

"I'm saying that we shouldn't sacrifice our 'friends' anymore Em." Ellie responded sweetly. "I don't know if you picked up on this but it's your fault that our 'plump angel' Catherine 'flew away' last night due to _your_ bad decisions."

A look of horror crossed Emily's face before it twisted into a snarl. "I did what was best for the group. How the hell was am I supposed to know that she would kill herself."

"She didn't kill herself." Spectra whispered softly from behind Emily. Despite her dislike of the blue haired mouse, Ellie nodded in agreement.

"Finally, some sense. She was murdered, just like miss double Ds and Ice Queen." Looking behind herself once more, Ellie grimmly finished, "Catherine's paid the price of your ignorance."

"You're still blaming me?" Emily shouted, furious. "Why do you even care so much?"

Poking Sophia in the side, Ellie's sides contorted in silent and mocking laughter."She thinks I care, isn't that cute."

Sophia's small face wrinkled in distaste and perhaps a little sympathy. "You know, I might have mocked Ren but she didn't deserve this."

Ellie rolled her eyes at her friend's show of weakness. "Come on Soph, we have bigger fish to fry."

"Like escaping." Bean's flat voice startled Ellie slightly.

"Goodness, you two are just full of wisdom today!" Ellie exclaimed condescendingly. "But yes, escape is the first and most important objective."

"What if someone tries to kill us while we're trying to leave?" Spectra asked nervously.

"That's why we're leaving!" Emily exclaimed in exasperation. "If we don't we'll definitely die!"

"Oh and you _always_ make good choices." Spectra shot back snidely.

"And the true rat appears!" Sophia muttered sarcastically. "Did you know that rats were one of the ways the Black Death spread?"

Bean bristled. "Are you comparing her to a plague?"

With a snort Sophia retorted, "Of course not, that would be childish. I'm merely pointing out that her way of thinking is going to kill us."

"So, our choices are to follow either the captain who makes the wrong decisions or the 'disease that will kill us slowly'." Bean muttered sarcastically. "You and Ellie are so stupid. All you care about is pointing the blame at someone else. What about you two! We still haven't established your innocence yet."

"Well I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm too short to have possibly committed any of these murders." Sophia pointed out. "And Ellie hasn't left my sight since we got here."

"How do you know that?" Bean asked wildly

"Oh I don't know Bean, because I can _see_ and I know what Ellie looks like." Sophia sneered. "Unless she's a _ghost_ or something, she's been playing 'let's find the killer' or a video game with me since this started."

Spectra shifted uncomfortably and begged, "Can we just stop arguing. I'm pretty sure that _that_ isn't going to help."

"Yeah, let's just get out of here." Emily muttered gruffly. "We've only got one car but thanks to the recent…" She flailed helplessly.

"Subtractions? Population decrease?" Ellie supplied helpfully.

"Fatalities?" Sophia suggested.

Looking at her in a disgruntled fashion, Emily gulped "The point is, we can all easily leave in one car."

"I like that idea, let's take a vote!" Ellie announced instantly. "Everyone who wants to survive, raise your hands." Sophia and Emily both put hands up as did Ellie. Spectra and Bean just sat there looking nervous

"How do we know that we'll be safe? What if the car suddenly breaks down in the middle of nowhere." Bean questioned in concern.

"Easy. There's the gun above the fireplace." Ellie exclaimed brightly.

She turned with the other girls to look up at the aforementioned revolver. The spot where it should have been was empty. Ellie shrugged. "Ah well, it was just for show anyway, I think."

"Real comforting." Emily drawled dryly.

"Fine, we'll leave." Bean ground out.

"Then let's go!" Ellie clapped her hands together once more.

"I call shotgun!" Sophia quickly called and dashed towards the door.

With a sharp grin, Ellie shot after her with a shout of, "Not if I get there first!"

As they both tore down the gravel path to where they had parked the cars, Ellie easily outpaced Sophia and continued down at full speed. The quiet gave her some much needed time to think. As a welcome distraction, this had all lost its fun, as a random killing it had become far too complex but as a game, Ellie felt like it had only just begun.

It was clear to her now that they were being toyed with. If someone had set out to kill them all just to kill them all, the girls would have been dead on the first night. That, apparently, wasn't the objective. Clearly, someone was having fun.

As the two cars came into sight Ellie dug her heels in and skidded to a stop beside the still functioning vehicle. With a sigh, Ellie pulled out the car keys she'd been carrying since yesterday and climbed into the driver's side. Moments later Sophia flung herself into the seat next to Ellie and lightly punched her friend in the arm.

"Not fair, you're taller."

"Not my fault you're a midget." Ellie murmured, amused.

Sophia was silent for a moment before asking, "Are you sure this was the work of a serial killer?"

"As sure as I am that Link's quest in Majora's Mask is pointless." Ellie responded.

"Because the moon is too slow and small that it can't possibly destroy the village?" Sophia guessed.

"No, because he's already dead." Ellie said shortly, "It doesn't matter, the point is I'm sure. Very sure."

They both sat in silence after that, waiting for the other girls to show up. When the three latecomers finally made their appearance, Ellie started the car, hoping to spur them on. As hoped, Emily rolled her eyes and sped to the car.

Throwing open the door the car, she groused, "Did you two really have to do that? I was stuck listening to tidings of doom the entire way down."

"Not my fault you insist on high heels." Ellie muttered.

"For your information, they're flats." Emily snapped.

"Are we really arguing again?" Specta asked wearily as she climbed into the back along with Bean.

"No, we're having a lovely chat." Sophia mumbled, already engrossed in her phone. "You know, I'm still not getting service."

"Let's see if we can fix that by getting out of this hellhole!" Ellie announced and hit the accelerator.

As she sped down the path, spitting gravel all the way, Sophia muttered, "Five college students found pasted to the ground beside smoking wreckage, nearby serial killer says 'It was probably an accident'."

"No, he would clearly say, 'knife to meet you'." Ellie joked.

"This is a horror scenario, not a comedy routine." Emily growled. "For the love of fuck, slow down."

"For the love of fuck shut up!" Ellie muttered. "I can drive however I please." Despite her sharp words, they slowed down.

"Thank you." Bean muttered from the backseat. "I don't do to well with cars on bumpy roads."

"If you're going to be sick, don't get it on me." Emily shrieked as the car slowed down further. "Oh, are you going to pull over to deal with us now?" She asked snidely.

"No," muttered Ellie, confused. "I'm not the one slowing down."

As the car's speed decreased once more Sophia furrowed her brow. "Well we aren't breaking any records anymore, that's for sure."

"The tank is almost full." Ellie protested, frustrated with the world. "What the fuck?" She exclaimed loudly as the car slowed to a complete stop. Furiously she threw open the car door and jumped out. "Fine then, I'm walking. We're getting out of this goddamned place if it's the last thing we do."

Sophia hopped out to follow her. "I'm with you. Do you still have the-"

Ellie cut her off with a glare and a curt nod before marching down the path. Perhaps it was her imagination but the air felt heavier somehow than it had before. The feeling only intensified as she continued on, growing to the point where it felt like she was walking through jelly. Cursing again, Ellie turned around to see that Sophia was faring much the same. If it hadn't been so disturbing Ellie might have laughed at the slow motion way her tiny friend was moving.

Halting, Ellie took a moment to catch her breath and ask, "I'm not imagining this, am I?"

"No." Sophia growled, seemingly unable to walk any further. "What do you think is causing it?"

Despite the dire circumstances, Ellie managed a grin. "Aliens." She said matter-o-factly.

"That joke is so old!" Sophia shouted as she tried to move towards Ellie again. Determined to help her friend Ellie took a step back to Sophia and almost fell. Even though Sophia was still struggling forward, the air had felt just fine when Ellie had backed up.

Stomach sinking, Ellie realized what that meant. Forget how it was working or why it was working, the real problem was what it was doing. It was keeping them in.

"Sophia." Ellie said, face grim. When her friend ignored her Ellie forcefully reached out and grabbed her. "Sophia, stop!"

"We've got to get out!" Sophia said angrily, fighting Ellie's hold on her arm.

"Sophia, we _can't_ get out. We're physically unable to leave!" When Sophia's expression of stubborn determination didn't change Ellie shook her friend and shouted, "Don't you get it, we're trapped here!"

* * *

 _Sally_

As she watched the girls struggle in slow motion Sally had to stifle a giggle. These barriers Slendy had set up definitely had interesting methods of keeping people in. _Although_ , Sally mused, _it seems to work, whatever it is._

While she was lost in thought, one of the girls in the car the sorority girls had attempted to escape in burst into tears. Looking up, Sally got to watch Ellie, the reason she was here at all, slap the offending asian girl across the face and shout, "Pull yourself together!"

The Asian wailed, "But we're all going to die!"

"And that's a bad thing why? The only reason I've got to be upset is the fact that my last days are going to be spent with three idiots and my best friend."

"And that's not enough because…" The girl Sally recognized as Sophia wondered, clearly talking offence to Ellie's words.

"If you die too, who's going to finish Until Dawn for me!" She shouted.

 _I can see why Ben think's it's going to be fun to kill this girl._ With another giggle, Sally started to walk away from the five girls, contentedly feeling the border pull and push at her as she went.

 _You know_ , Sally thought absently, _it really is an ingenious plot device._ Especially if this batch of Sorority girls were actually as smart as their trying to escape make them out to be.

 _Oh and don't mind this part. It's nothing more than a filler._ Humming a little tune as she went, Sally stepped over the border and vanished.

* * *

 _Jeff_

"So then he shook me until I fell out of the stupid thing before yelling at me to leave. Seriously, if I didn't know Slendy better, I'd think he's got a crush on the chick or something!"

Jeff chuckled at Ben's words. "You should have seen him when he first noticed he was holding the hoodie, you'd have thought he suddenly realized he was holding someone's head or something."

"To be fair," Masky called from where he was standing by the kitchen sink. "He probably felt like he was. I mean," He gestured wildly with the plate he had just finished washing. "I'm still having trouble believing she's still alive."

"Maybe he's having fun scaring the living shit out of her." Ben suggested.

"Must be because that is literally the only logical explanation for it." Masky threw his arms above his head to accentuate his point and the plate he was holding ended up crashing against the opposite wall.

"Maybe," Hoodie stood up tentatively after having dodged the flying glassware and returned to drying the cleaver he was holding. "But maybe not. Bean might not have _seemed_ interesting but who knows, there might be more to her than meets the eye."

Masky paused washing his current dish and said,"Come on Hoods, what about that girl could _possibly_ interest Slenderman?"

Hoodie reached out and gently pulled the dish from Masky's grasp before he could repeat the same mistake again. "I'm pretty sure that's what we all wonder every time one of us finds a human to," He coughed, "Play with. Yet despite the senselessness of it, it still happens."

"Unfair!" Protested Jeff in irritation, slit smile taking on a disgruntled twist. "Not all of us find humans interesting. I think they're fucking stupid."

"Depends," Mused Ben, "If they can give me a half decent challenge in Super Smash Bros, they might be worth something." When Jeff raised an eyebrow, Ben amended, "Not much, but something."

"Whatever, they aren't going to incur my interest, that's for sure." Jeff muttered indifferently as his gaze shifted restlessly to the swinging door leading into the kitchen. A thin smile curled over his lips suddenly. "Jane, I can hear your breathing. You don't have to listen in."

Jane pushed the door open a sullen look thinly veiling the same jumpy look that had been swirling around her for the past two days. Furrowing his brow, Jeff asked, "Do you need something?"

"Um, I-" Jane seemed to be floundering behind her trembling pout. "No, I don't need anything." She at last decided. Turning back to the door she muttered, "I'm going upstairs."

 _Bullshit, not without telling me what's wrong_. "Actually, I need something from you!" Jeff languidly got to his feet and nodded with a smirk at the other men in the room. "Gentlemen," Ben snickered at the word. "Have fun discussing Slenderman. I've places to be!" Without giving Jane so much as a chance to protest, Jeff casually draped an arm around her shoulder and guided her to the door.

"What are you doing?" Jane asked, disgruntled. "Let me go."

"No." Jeff said easily, seering her around the living room furniture and towards the front door. She only tried to pull away once before going limp beneath his arm, defeat heavy in her step.

As he pushed open the front door Jeff gently asked, "What's on your mind."

"It's nothing." Jane murmured, leaning into him and inhaling slowly through her nose before letting out the breath in a tiny puff of air. The breath came out as a cloud of white in the chilly winter air.

"You've been acting off, don't I deserve to know why?" Jeff reasoned, carefully drawing Jane off the porch and towards the woods. When they reached the tree line, Jeff released Jane and casually leaned against a tree.

"Remember- remember that girl from our game I mentioned?" Jane asked at last.

"Which one?" Jeff responded dryly. "You mentioned one of them _used_ to be a friend but…" He trailed off and gave her a knowing look, "I already told you what I thought about that."

Jane shook her head and ran slender fingers through her curly black mane of hair. "I never gave you a name, I'm not going to. I just-"

"And this mystery girl that is going to be dead probably within the next week is important to tell me about why?" Jeff studied the breath that escaped from Jane in small little gasps, confused at why she was acting like she was. A sudden thought struck him and Jeff's mouth formed a stony line. "If you're thinking about _saving_ her or something-"

Jane glanced at Jeff quickly and admitted, "The thought had crossed my mind."

"My fucking god Jane, could you be any more stupid?!" Jeff exclaimed furiously.

"Shh," Jane frantically motioned for Jeff to shut up. "You're the one who wanted to know and I sort of thought telling you was a good idea."

Putting a white finger to his temple, Jeff massaged the headache that was forming there. "Jane, what do you think telling me is going to change?"

"I- I don't know. Because it's you, I'm guessing it'll do jackshit but I'm trying anyway." She pressed herself firmly against the tree at her back as if to ground herself in reality and stared at him pleadingly.

"Listen, you already told me, you used to know one of those girls and she's now 'on the dark side'." He put air quotes around the words mockingly. "Even if she was your friend, you're not letting her escape."

"But-" Slowly, Jane sank to the leaf strewn ground and put her head in her hands. There was something utterly helpless about the way she rubbed her pale face as if fighting back tears and asked, "I- what am I supposed to do?

As he stared down at his girlfriend, Jeff felt a twist of pity for her. Smoothly he knelt down next to her and murmured, "Jane…" When she didn't look up Jeff hooked a finger under her delicate jaw and lifted her face up so he could look her in the eyes. There were small tear tracks running down her face. "Oh hell- Jane, I'm sorry, but you know how it is." Her black eyes flickered to his face in what was probably fear. "You can't just go telling this to anyone. I'm glad you told me first, but I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do."

Without bothering to pull away from Jeff's hand, Jane nodded and her mouth tightened into a angry line."I thought you were going to be more supportive. It's not about her, is it? You think just because she's someone you don't know, they're going to turn out like Liu."

"This has nothing to do with Liu!" Jeff snapped in irritation. "Jane, this girl, whoever she is, is not a CP. And judging by what I know of those girls, she would never be one. There isn't a direction this can go where this girl survives to be your friend again." Gentling his tone, Jeff reached a hand out and brushed the tears from Jane's cheek. "The past is just that, past. Sometimes, it's best to leave it there."

With a snarl, Jane's hand shot out and slapped Jeff across the face. "You're such an asshole! Of the monsters here, you were supposed to help me to get on my feet, not make me feel worse!"

Catching her wrist in a tight hold, Jeff pulled Jane against him with a grin, "Yeah I get it princess, you're pissed at me. Just trust me, someone's going to get hurt and I'd rather it not be you. You can hate me all you want, but I'll always protect you."

Jane looked at him like she was considering hitting him again but at last she shook her head and rested her head against his chest. "You're impossible. Why do I keep falling for you?"

With a small laugh Jeff placed a small kiss on Jane's forehead and guessed, "Because I'm irresistible?"

"Shut up. I'm probably the only one who finds you… Kind of attractive. In my book, you're seven at m-"

Jeff cut her off with a kiss, "You just keep telling yourself that. I'm at least an eight."

 **A/N: Jane and Jeff… I can never get enough of them**.

 **IDG: They have.. Or at least in our way, this unstable and unbalanced relationship. Like Mickey and Mallory Knox.**

 **Q: Way more interesting than all those** _ **other**_ **relationships. Those are** _ **far**_ **too** _ **normal**_ **for our tastes.**

 **IDG: Yeah, who needs a normal boring life when you could have your spouse trying to kill you constantly!**

 **Q: Exactly. Well, I'm sure Jeff and Jane will pop up again. Until I remember to start writing again, goodbye.**

 **IDG: And trust me she won't. She sold her soul to me, and that still wasn't enough to pay off her debts.**

 **Q: Curses….**

 **IDG: Technically, the curse is on you.**


	9. The New Regime

**A/N: Although it probably goes without saying, this story has become my life. I haven't stopped thinking of ways to send this plot since I finished the last chapter and I've been itching to see where my characters take me.**

 **What better way to solve that itch than to write!**

 **Enjoy.**

 _Emily_

 _Dead…_ The word kept echoing around in Emily's mind like a bad dream. Somehow, it had taken three bodies before the weight of the situation had finally hit her. After going her whole life without seeing a single one, this week had definitely been a first. Multiple firsts. Now, left with the aftermath, Emily couldn't help but wonder how a leader was supposed to respond to such a burden.

The tension in the room was palpable, at least to Emily. Ever since the initial shock of finding out that they were trapped here and probably going to die had worn off, the girls had been unnaturally quiet. Even the Geek sisters, Ellie and Sophia, had taken a break from all the unnecessary snarkiness that they usually so enjoyed in favor of soured silence.

Leaning heavily against the mop she had been using in her largely futile attempt to clean up the bloody art Catherine's killer had left behind, Emily was once again tempted to break the stillness. It was only a matter of time she knew before she would be expected, as leader, to do _something_. Whatever that something entailed however, wasn't anything she would enjoy given the circumstances.

The sounds of water splashing down the drain startled her out of her reverie and she turned to find Bean rinsing her bloody rag clean. Ellie and Sophia both looked up from where they sat on the only untouched couch to glare at the blond girl in accusation. Hunching her shoulders, Bean muttered a sorry before turning off the water and putting down her rag.

"I think this is the best we can do." Spectra put the now coverless foam of the cushions back on the other couch before collapsing atop them weakly. When Emily continued to absently scrub at the rusty stains, Spectra softly pleaded, "Em, sit down, you can't make it go away."

There was the clincher; she couldn't make the situation go away. No matter how much she scrubbed it would still be Catherine's blood, Taylor's blood, Mackenzie's… It would never stop because Catherine would still have died because of her. No matter how much she cleaned, the filth would still be there.

Feeling the need to offer up some form of excuse Emily muttered, "But it's going to start to stink." Her cleaning began to take on a more feverish pace. It wasn't the blood she wanted to go away, what she wanted to vanish was the fact that Catherine, the girl _she_ had sentenced to isolation, was dead. There was a stain in the air that she needed to get rid of before it blotted her out of existence instead.

"Emily, stop!" Ellie barked in alarm. "Just fucking stop."

Growling in anger, Emily shoved the mop to the floor like it was poisonous and backed away from the mess entirely. Away from the shadow of Catherine that loomed over her. Away from her crushing guilt. Taking a deep breath she cooled the vicious anger and fear within her stomach and felt the tension around her shift slightly as Sophia put her phone down with a snap.

"So, what next?" The small girl asked, indifferent expression not quite reaching her eyes.

The other girls stared at Emily pointedly, waiting for her decision. _Say something Em, anything!_ She cleared her throat and gruffly said, "We're stuck here."

"We'd noticed," Ellie snorted, true disinterest in her gaze. "What we want to know is what we're supposed to do about it. I made you the leader Em, don't disappoint me."

Taking a deep breath Emily at last said, "We're going to survive. Sure there's a fucking force field around this place but eventually, we'll find a way out." As the various pieces began to fall into the scattered cracks of her brain and stick, the words began to flow from her faster than she could say them. "We've got enough food to last eight people twelve days but now that there are only five of us and we've been eating like birds for the past few days what with everything that's going on, that'll last a while."

"Protection?" Ellie asked, ignoring Sophia's barely muffled snort.

"Rules." Emily countered. "Important ones like locked doors and not going anywhere alone." Her pacing grew more frenzied as she started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. "Our immediate concerns involve getting Ma-" Throat seizing up unexpectedly, Emily had to pause and shut her eyes tight against the tears before continuing. "Kenzie out of the basement before she starts to rot. Ren is pretty much a lost cause unless that chandelier falls but Ken needs to be buried. If we work together we should be able to lift those boxes off of her and who knows, maybe we'll find something useful."

"Does anyone else feel like we suddenly became part of a hidden object game?" Sophia muttered sarcastically.

Bean raised a tentative hand. "Shouldn't we have weapons to defend ourselves?"

Directing a pointed glare in the offending girl's direction, Emily at last conceded, "Yeah, weapons would be a good idea. Makenzie seemed to have kept this place relatively well stocked with knives so we shouldn't have too much of a problem with getting everyone protection of some sort."

Feet carrying her to the kitchen of their own accord Emily began picking over the limited selection of sharp implements. Choosing some medium sized blades, Emily turned to the island and laid out her weapons of choice. "Of course," She started once more, "running should always be your first response. If a killer goes after you, and I'm sure they will at some point, you should try to find other people."

"That _literally_ made no sense whatsoever." Sophia deadpanned, face straight.

Rolling her eyes Emily beckoned her friends over and said, "We're trapped in a horror movie, right? So, all we've got to do to stay alive is follow the rules of the game."

"See, _now_ you're talkin my language!" Ellie drawled, clearly pleased as she walked over to the island, chose the largest of the knives, tossed it up in the air, caught it and stowed it in her pocket with a smirk. Emily furrowed her brows, unsure how the butcher knife had fit into such a small space.

Apparently, Sophia was wondering the same thing. "Ell, exactly how big _are_ your pockets?" She asked suspiciously.

Shrugging Ellie pulled her phone, her 3DS, a small book, the butcher knife and a game controller out of her pocket. "I've been wondering where that went." She muttered waving the controller around before returning the array of items to her pocket.

Blinking several times, Emily shook her head before turning back to Bean and Spectra who were still huddled on the sofas. "Are you two really just going to sit there?" She asked incredulously.

Slowly, Bean got to her feet and walked to the weapons as though they might bite. Sighing, Sophia picked a smaller blade and pointed it at her blue eyed friend. "Don't make this awkward."

Shrinking away from knife at her nose, Bean chose a weapon at random before hurrying away from the table. "I know I brought this up in the first place but what if we don't know how to use blades?"

"Then you're fucked!" Sophia exclaimed delightedly.

Quietly rising from the couch, Spectra waltzed over to the island with more grace than Emily had ever seen in the girl and deliberated over the choices before picking two small blades and tossing them up in the air experimentally. Unexpectedly, she caught them handily. Looking up at Emily she flinched and backed up to stand beside Bean. "I guess we'll have a chance then, right?"

"Didn't I just mention that we're all fucked?" Sophia asked, eyes narrowed.

"No, you just said that Bean was fucked." Ellie joked. "There's a difference."

"Not much of one." Sophia drawled, glaring at Spectra venomously. "After all, all mice are the same. They only vary in color."

"Come on Spec." Bean muttered under her breath, staring daggers at Ellie and Sophia as she did. "Let's go." With one last glance over her shoulder, Spectra followed her friend.

"Do we actually care about them?" Ellie asked Emily curiously.

Grinning despite herself Emily answered, "Beats me, they aren't very likeable huh."

 _Spectra_

As she followed Bean upstairs, Spectra couldn't help but glance at Catherine's gently swaying corpse. Whoever had killed her had wanted a show that was for sure. Quietly, Spectra sent up a small prayer that death had finally granted Ren the peace she hadn't been able to find in life.

"For all their wits, those three girls aren't worth a damn," fumed Bean under her breath as she walked down the short hall to the Geek sister's bedroom and stared out the floor to ceiling windows. Spectra studied her cat eyed friend before tentatively moving to stand beside her. Turning, Bean smiled wryly. "But, if we listen to them, we just might survive."

"We'll all be okay, I'm sure." _And if we wish really, really hard, our fairy godmother will come and_ magic _us away!_ Spectra chose not to voice that last comment. Her friend needed support not more hopeless statements.

"I hope Emily isn't too hard on herself." There was a note of worry in Bean's tone. "Ren's death really wasn't her fault."

"Yeah, she-" Spectra stopped as the niggling thought that had been eating away at her finally came to the forefront of her mind. "Her memory deserves to be honored." She continued suddenly as trickles of resentment invaded her mind. "That mean's coming clean Bean."

Backing up, Bean regarded her blue haired friend with a wary eye. "What are you talking about?"

 _Somehow, even my best friend takes me for an idiot. Is it the blue hair, is that what it is?_ Snorting derisively, Spectra advanced on Bean with the words, "Last night." When her friend continued to give her the same look of panic, Spectra pointedly added, "You said you'd explain so start talking."

"I- I told you last night, there was something out there. I never got a good look at it." From the way her eyes darted to the side Spectra could see at once that this was yet another attempt at covering up the truth.

"Listen, Bean, I'm going to be frank with you in the hopes that you'll extend the same courtesy to me." Calmly Spectra sunk to the ground and folded her legs up under her before looking at Bean once more. "I saw the _thing_ when it took you. I also heard some weird noises, static, I think. On the flip side it's clear whatever it was didn't kill you and, judging by the lack of screams, it was familiar in some way. Now, you can come clean with me, or I can tell the three stooges downstairs and they'll throw you out to go live with the nice little serial killers of the forest. What's it gonna be?"

With a jerk that was indicative of the trembling she was trying to hide, Bean pressed herself against the window and slowly lowered her seemingly frail frame to the ground. "I don't know much more." She whispered softly. "Honestly, you know about as much as I do."

"About as much but not exactly as much," Spectra pointed out.

Shaking her rust stained hair, Bean took a breath and muttered, "I've met it twice at least in reliable memory. Both times were here. First time was about when Taylor was getting murdered and the second time was last night."

"Right before Ren died," Spectra finished softly.

"I- Yeah." Bean nodded dismally. Looking to the ceiling in a hopeless manner, she continued, "But I don't think it's killing them. I mean, it would make sense, perfect sense actually, but…" She trailed off and shrugged. "If it wanted to kill us, it would have killed me the first time I met it. If it had it in for us, it wouldn't have pulled back."

"Pulled back?" Spectra prodded gently, knowing that if she played her hand right, Bean wouldn't try to hold anything back from her.

"It, he actually, he was going to…" Waving her hand around with a distressed grimace on her lips, Bean finally settled for, "He was going to eat me, but he pulled back. He just stopped and vanished. Why, why didn't he kill me?"

"I haven't got a clue." Spectra admitted softly. "Did he seem… Evil?" She asked curiously.

"Yes! God, yes." Bean let out a soft laugh. "He pulsed with malice but he didn't _act_ evil for the most part. He just _was._ " Shaking her head once more the blond girl put her head between her knees and sighed shakily. "Yet I don't think he's going to kill us."

"But you'll tell me if he shows up again." Spectra pressed at once, urgency in her tone. "Right?"

"I- No, no I'm not going to tell you." Bean muttered softly.

There was something in the defeated way she denied Spectra, as if it were her last option available, that infuriated the blue haired girl. "Like hell you're not going to tell me! This isn't just you Bean, this is everybody's' future you're gambling with here."

"No!" Bean's head came up at once and she stared daggers at Spectra. "This isn't anybody's future, this is only my past and I'm going to fight it on my own."

"How can you say that?" Spectra bursted, "If you don't tell someone-"

"What, he's going to kill us?" Bean laughed incredulously. "Spectra, the thing can teleport. Walls and a couple tiny knives aren't going to save us if he wants to kill us. Let me do this on my own, let me fight my own fights."

"It's not as if you've ever extended the same courtesy to me." Spectra grumbled, as the distinct feeling of being on the wrong side of an argument started to crash over her.

"You're fighting society Spectra, not yourself." Bean pointed out. "The monster responds to me somewhat, let me handle him without you getting the other girls involved."

Gritting her teeth together to keep from continuing the argument, Spectra ground out a, "Fine," before getting to her feet and walking away from her blue eyed friend. "I won't question you anymore but remember that I'm here for you, if it counts for anything."

"It'll always count for something." Bean responded warmly as she got up to follow. "You're my friend Spectra, the one true friend I've ever had. No matter what, you will _always_ matter."

"Way to sound cliched." Spectra commented sarcastically as she started to grin. "For all your quirks, you're a good friend."

"If you guys are done waxing poetic, we need to get into our room." Both girls were startled from their little bubble by the sight of Sophia and Ellie impatiently standing before them.

"Sorry, we were just leaving." Spectra mumbled, forcing herself not to stab the two as she walked by.

"Go on Bean, run along to you little cage now." Ellie murmured cruelly. "Follow your fellow mouse's example."

"Whatever." Bean strode past the two and grabbed Spectra's arm, inadvertently saving the Geek girls' lives.

"Don't kill anyone Blue sweetie." Sophia drawled venomously, "We don't want to clean up anymore blood."

As her friend towed her away, Spectra couldn't help but wonder how much longer she could go without her control slipping. Judging by Sophia's hatred of her, probably not for long.

 _Eyeless Jack_

"I don't care what the rules are, I'm not working with you." EJ snarled, arms crossed.

"Look Tootsie, I don't want to work with ya either but those are the rules so you're going to stay _put_ until she falls asleep so I can work my little dream magic on her, got that." LJ growls, tone equally menacing.

EJ took a step towards the overgrown clown's voice and, even though he couldn't see him, acted like he was staring him down. "Oh I hear you, I don't care. You're stupid sandman tricks are for children LJ."

"Ain't she a child?" LJ asked, face close enough to EJ's for his cone nose to brush against the blind man's mask.

"Not exactly." His point was a good one but LJ didn't seem to care because a moment later he stepped back with a scoff.

"Whatever Sweets, you do it your way but don't ya come cryin' to me when it doesn't work." There was a challenge in those words but EJ wasn't about to back down. It was just like LJ to decide to do thing _his_ way without thinking about anyone else.

With a fake smile that was hidden behind his mask, EJ said, "If I can't kill her then _by all means_ you can try it your way."

"When." LJ corrected cockily. The two men stood there for a moment longer, both still furious with the other before EJ turned on his heels and left the room.

It was ridiculous of course, this teamwork idea. If he stood back and looked at it objectively EJ could guess as to Jeff's purpose for including that rule; making the game harder. That being said however, he hated it. Alone, with no hindrances, there was little doubt in EJ's mind that he could've killed all the girls in the cabin, given a few days but as it stood, he might not even be able to get the girl, Spectra, on her own.

Killing her would be easy though, if LJ was to be believed, she looked like a mouse. Mice were easy.

Irritation swirling around him in a thick cloud, EJ hardly noticed the seamless passage from Slender's dimension to the human world and straight into the cabin's dimension. He did think he'd heard a little gasp while touching upon the human's reality but that had probably just been his imagination.

As the oddly familiar sense of the cabin's woods enveloped him, EJ forced himself to calm down and focus on his surroundings. On the off chance that the girls were wandering about, he didn't want to be caught by them, thus ruining the game. Footsteps softening to crackling whispers, EJ slunk forward, ears trained on his surroundings like sonar.

"You were a great friend despite the fucking melons sewn to your chest and even though you didn't have the decency to be crushed by anything useful, we'll all still miss you yada yada yada." The moment the heavily sarcastic voice met his ears, EJ ducked behind the nearest tree, hoping that the girl who had spoken was far enough away to haven't noticed him.

"That's racist." A softer yet equally sarcastic voice said from the direction of the first one.

"It's not racist," the first voice argued. "I said nothing about her being black."

"Ellie, shut up." A slightly sharp voice countered. "She's our friend. Does anyone else want to say something?"

"I-I would, actually." This voice was pinched and slightly nasally but there was sadness in the tone that seemed out of place.

"Go ahead Emily." A gentle voice urged.

The nasally voice, Emily, cleared her throat and started. "I'm really glad to have known you as a friend Mackenzie. I know I was really bitchy most of the time but-" Seeming to choke on the words, Emily stopped for a second before continuing. "But you were always there for me, even when I didn't deserve it. I'm sorry for spending the last day I knew you blaming you for something you never did. I-I'm really gonna miss you…" There was a loud sniffle as the girl fell silent.

"You know, Mackenzie's right." The softer sarcastic voice muttered gruffly. "Ellie and I might not have been always the nicest to you but I know I was really thankful when you welcomed us into this group. I guess it's taken me this long to realize that you fussing over us was something I've really wished for. I hope you're in a better place."

"You know Soph, that's the nicest thing I've ever heard you say." Ellie commented, her earlier sarcasm gone.

"I'd like to say something." The sharp voice interjected quickly. "Um, I-I'm really glad that you welcomed me into your group of friends. I never really thought that I'd make friends again but you-you opened your arms to me and... Thank you."

"W-we should probably get back to the house." Emily stammered past a shuddering breath. "Come on."

For a few seconds there were the sounds of footsteps before the noises stopped again and the sharp voice called, "Spectra, aren't you coming?"

The gentle voice, Spectra answered, "I'd actually like to stay here for a bit guys."

"I'll stay with you." The other voice countered at once.

"No Bean, I'd rather be alone just for a few damn minutes." Spectra's voice, while still soft, hardened into something that wasn't going to be moved.

EJ listened as Bean tried to reply, but quickly closed her mouth and tried not to push any further.

"Gee Blue, you're pushing your only friend away now. How cold hearted can you be?" The girl, Soph, asked sarcastically.

"It's okay. I might deserve it." Bean muttered sadly. "We'll be waiting for you."

"Thanks."

As the other girls started walking away EJ couldn't help but smile. He had been right, this girl would be a cakewalk. She might as well have sent him a personal invitation to kill her. Deciding not to rush this, he waited silently for the sounds of the other girls to disappear.

Once Spectra was alone EJ heard her exhale slowly. There was a moment of rustling preceded by a series of beeps that sounded much like numbers being punched into the dial pad of a phone. He could just make out the shrill ringing before the monotone message of voice recorder _I'm sorry but the call you made can not be completed at this time, please try again later._

"Goddamnit _work!_ " Spectra growled in anger. "I know that you've decided fuck me over at the worst possible time, but I _really_ need to reach him before he does something stupid and strain his injuries." The sounds of her redialing followed by the same message produced a snarl from the blue haired girl.

"I just need to tell him not to hurt himself. Please, just one call!"

Smirking EJ withdrew his twin scalpels from his hoodie and stepped out from behind his tree to start advancing on Spectra. "And who might you be calling?"

There was a crunch of leaves as Spectra spun on her heels to face him. "Who- who are you?"

"Pardon my cheesiness but, I'm your death." EJ answered, amused.

"I-I've heard cheesier." She countered, a distinct tremor in her voice. "You- you're like that s-suited man!"

 _Looks like Slenderman's gotten careless._ "I beg to differ Spectra, I'm nothing like the old man." He paused to grin. "I'm not going to let you escape."

"S-stay back!" She was definitely shaking now. "I h-have an knife!"

EJ took a deep breath and smelled the chrome she held in her hands. "I doubt you can use it."

"I-I wouldn't be s-so sure." As EJ took another step closer he noticed something strange. Despite the clear shudder in her voice Spectra's breaths were even. In addition to that fact, the usual tang of fear that cascaded off of humans and permeated the air around them when he drew near them, was absent. Truth be told, she smelled confident.

It must have been his imagination.

"It won't matter. Whether you can use those knives or not will be irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. I'm still going to kill you."

"You'll have to catch me first." With that, the girl took off.

With a cackle EJ gave chase. Spectra tore through the woods, faster than he had expected but definitely not fast enough. He was gaining on her easily. Even with his lack of eyesight, he could easily hear the twigs snapping, her feet stomping, and even her labored breaths. This gave him a better advantage in chasing her. And with the sun setting on the horizon, this sure was going to be an easy hunt.

As he listened to her feet leading the way and almost being his eye, the ground leveled out and he could tell that they were drawing near a rather large obstacle. If he was any judge, they'd almost reached the cabin. _Excellent, she'll have her back to a wall._

Realizing it herself Spectra slowed and turned to face EJ. "If you don't leave, I'll scream."

Taking the last few strides to her at a lazy amble EJ smirked. "Go ahead, make my day, _Blue._ "

True to her work Spectra let out an ear piercing wail. Even though the sudden rush of sound was painful EJ surged forward, scalpel raised. With satisfied certainty he drove the blade forward where it met-

Wood?

Shocked, EJ yanked his blade free and tossed his head around confused. Had she slipped away while screaming, using the noise to cover her retreat? Yet he couldn't for the life of him make out any breathing nearby, even though she had been panting like a dog only moments before and that scream certainly wouldn't have helped anything.

Starting off along the side of the house EJ reasoned there must be a door she had went through. It was the only logical explanation. With any luck, he would find it, find her and be out of here before the other girl had time to-

"Spectra! Spectra are you okay?" The shriek echoed from somewhere deep inside the house.

"I- There was a man, he tried to kill me!" Yelled back the terrified voice of Spectra. Cursing EJ retreated to the treeline, realizing that his chance was now gone. Somehow that little mouse of a girl had escaped him.

With only one irritated snort, he set off back into the woods at a run, dodging trees handily and practically flying over the uneven ground. Knowing that this meant he'd have to let LJ have a go at killing Spectra, EJ's lip curled in disgust. _I'd like to see him try. He won't get any farther than me, that's for sure._

Letting himself be pulled into the barrier, EJ took a moment in the human world to catch his breath before sprinting back to his own dimension. Perhaps it had just been a trick of the quick change in levels of reality but he could have sworn that as he disappeared, he heard someone yell, "FUCK!"

 **A/N: The plot thickens! This is just so exciting… On a side note, I really liked your suggestion Lilypad1412. I can't make any definite promises but I've got an inkling as to how I can weave it into the story. Just a warning though, you won't see it till somewhere at the end. It'll fit, I think.**

 **The next chapter is more Bean and Slenderman so expect that to be done sooner rather than later. Well, as long as IDG is nice enough to let me take a break from his stories...**

 **IDG: That's a total lie! She literally begs from me to write down chapters together.**

 **Q: *Turns a furious shade of red* You sit on a** _ **throne**_ **of lies! I've never begged in my life.**

 **IDG: Guys, who do you believe more. The honest misunderstood giant with the big heart, or the tiny evil manipulative witch with a heart of stone?!**

 **Q: If anyone sides with him *smiles widely and twitches* Well,** _**I'm**_ **sure you'll chose wisely… Until next time!**


	10. A Monster by Any Name

**A/N: So, Ohmygosh I just couldn't sit still! This story has a way of gripping you and dragging you in. Well, at least that's what it does to me, the author. Also, have I said thank you recently for the overwhelming amount of support for this story? Seriously guys, you're awesome.**

 **Enjoy.**

 _Sophia_

Eyes closed in an expression of one who doesn't quite believe what they're being told, Sophia asked, "So, let me get this straight, a masked killer, with no eyes, chased _you_ through the woods with a scalpel of all things, and you _survived_?"

"Yeah, I call bullshit." Ellie deadpanned, cold stare boring a hole in Spectra's pale terrified face.

Emily sighed in exasperation. "Guys shouldn't we at least give her the _benefit_ of the doubt? I mean, after all, we're obviously stuck here with a serial killer. If she was just chased by our killer, this could be our chance to learn more about what we're up against."

With exasperation to match her Asian friend's, Sophia rolled her eyes in Emily's direction and, while gesturing at the taller, blue haired girl pointed out, "She says she was almost murdered and yet, there's not a scratch on her."

Jumping in to defend her friend, Bean retorted, "She got lucky. Are you really going to blame her for _not_ dying?"

"Oh, we're not _blaming_ her." Ellie reassured.

"We're as happy as everyone else that dear ol' Blue survived." Sophia's honeyed sarcasm clearly bit into Bean. "But the fact is, the only thing she survived was telling a tall tale meant to incur our sympathy."

"And _that_ my friends," Ellie announced, "Is what I call bullshit."

Emily crossed her arms. "What other explanation would make sense? Why would she have screamed bloody murder if she was lying?"

"To support her story?" Sophia sounded like she was talking to a five year old. "That's what _manipulation_ is Emily. Now I know it's a big word-"

"Bigger than you." Ellie muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

"-BUT you're a big girl and I'm sure you can understand it." Sophia finished, quickly shooting a glare at Ellie.

"I'm not manipulating you!" Spectra insisted, voice cracked and wild. "I nearly died."

"And you guys are complete idiots if you can't see that she's telling the truth." Bean's voice was raised, demanding everyone to end the argument.

"Thanks ever so much for your input Bean. We really value your opinion." Sophia's voice dripped venom.

"He dug his blade into the side of the house." Spectra said suddenly. "There's probably a mark on the wall facing the graveyard. If I show you, will you believe me then?"

"No." Ellie said instantly. "Because if this killer was that close to killing you, you would have had to walk through walls to get away from him."

Spectra opened her mouth then shut it again as tears started to form at the corners of her eyes. "I'm trying to help you." She whimpered. "I'm trying to keep you guys alive, the least you could do is extend the same courtesy to me."

"I am." Emily said, voice soft and reassuring. "Listen you two," She rounded on Ellie and Sophia, irritation in her movements. "I get that you don't like Spectra but this is going too far. The girl's clearly been traumatized."

"Sure, makes sense." Sophia's usual thin lipped smirk was hidden behind a falsely understanding voice. "Because of all the girls who have been attacked by a serial killer here, only Spectra, the mouse, has survived. Doesn't anyone else find that suspicious?"

"She isn't under suspicion anymore." Emily informed Sophia, voice deadly quiet. "You're stirring up trouble where we already have enough to go around. So stop."

"We're not adding more trouble, we're trying to fix it. Why can't you dumb asses get it!" Sophia exclaimed at Emily.

"None of what she said could count as evidence, any idiot with a slight bit of imagination could have come up with something as stupid as a man with no eyes and a scalpel." Ellie backed Sophia up at once.

"Enough!" Emily yelled at both of them. "There _is_ a serial killer out there hiding in the forest and instead of doing something useful like, I don't know, barricading the doors or raising other defenses, we're arguing like we're ten years old at a slumber party. You two keep your speculations to yourselves. Spectra is not our killer."

"Doesn't mean that she might not be working with him." Ellie hypothesized.

"ENOUGH!" Bean roared, ire dripping from her like venom.

"No Bean, wait." Spectra stared down at Sophia, tears almost completely obscuring the rage in her eyes. "Let's hypothetically say I'm working with the killer. Why? Why Taylor or Mackenzie or even poor Catherine. Why would I waste my time killing them? If I were going to help kill people, my first targets would be you two." Tears rolled down her face as if she couldn't believe what she was rambling about. "I... I don't know anymore. I don't." Her weak legs finally gave up and she allowed gravity to take over and drop her to the ground.

Bean immediately rushed near her and supported her. "If anything, you two should've died instead of them. The minute you two stepped in this cursed cabin, you've been doing nothing but insult and humiliate everyone. There may be a monster out there destroying us, but you two are the ones eating us alive."

"So that's how it's going to be." Sophia said. "You'll shield yourself behind tears and dead people. That's low Blue, real low, even for me."

Bean gritted her teeth as though fighting the urge to punch the short girl in the face. Luckily, Emily stepped in befor her.

"That's it!" She commanded from everyone. "I don't want to hear it anymore. It's getting late, and we're all tired." She looked at Ellie and Sophia with narrowed eyes and ordered "Starting from tomorrow, you two will zip your mouths and will stop with the whole whodunit game. Because if you don't, then you'll deal with me." She stepped in front of Bean and Spectra, shielding them from the Geek sisters.

"Ooh, an Asian. Scary…" Sophia muttered, a bit halfheartedly. Truth be told, she was tired of pointing out such obvious things to such ignorant people.

Probably too lazy to start up another fight, Ellie just shrugged it off "Whatever. I thought you were brighter than that Emily." Grabbing Sophia's hand, the two climbed the stairs and soon the other three girls were out of sight.

"God, I'm sick of them." Groaned Sophia, pulling a face as she did so.

"Come on, they aren't all bad. Admit it, this is the most fun you've had in a long time." Ellie joked, poking the side of her friend's head lightly. "The murders make everything better."

"You know, if I didn't think it was Spectra, I would be convinced you're the killer." Sophia teased lightly.

"Why do you keep picking on her that much. If I didn't know any better, I would say you have a personal vendetta." Ellie playfully made a show of thinking before offering, "Let me guess, you liked her, but she turned you down."

Sophia rolled her eyes. "Let's just say, she's not trustworthy." Wanting to change the subject she opened the door to their room and stepped inside. "Come on, I'm bored. Let's play Crossy Roads or something."

"So what was it that drove you. The unnatural eyes, the dyed hair or her ghostly skin, which I know you're into."

"Fuck. Off." Sophia pushed Ellie as hard as she could which barely made Ellie move. "Why don't you spend all that energy putting some music on."

"Will you tell me later?" Ellie asked mischievously.

"If it will shut you up."

"Then what'll it be, Hollywood Undead? Slipknot?"

Sophia groaned. "You know I'm in a foul mood."

Ellie grinned and turned away. "Monstercat it is then."

* * *

 _Slenderman_

"Naw, I'm not trying to blackmail you, I'm just wondering if something's up." Eyeless Jack's calm tone, while preferable to Jeffrey's raspy one, was still managing to irk Slenderman. He would have liked to say it had nothing to do with the subject matter but in all honesty, it did.

"A fluke, I am sure. Something I hope to remedy sooner rather than later." He said smoothly, gaze falling almost instinctively on Bean's picture that once again had taken up residence against the pen well.

"Ah well, I guess I didn't do too good a job of offing my girl myself." Eyeless Jack said reflectively.

"It was supposed to be a team effort." Slenderman reminded the blind boy.

Eyeless Jack smiled thinly before getting out of the chair in front of Slenderman's desk and casually meandering to the door. "Be grateful you don't have to work with someone. If you did I'm sure you'd feel my pain." Laughing he added, "Good luck," before exiting the room.

As the door quietly snapped shut behind him, Slenderman massaged his forehead and sighed softly. Eyeless Jack was right of course, something was wrong, he just was not sure what. After all, this had never happened to him before. Usually killing came as second nature to him. Slenderman sighed once more before attempting to push the matter from his mind completely.

The tasteful chime of the grandfather clock in the corner of the room brought him to attention once more. For a moment he debated whether to get some rest or go pay a visit to Bean.

It only took a fraction of a second to make the decision. Getting to his feet, Slenderman found his nearest proxy, Hoodie, and told him that he would be back shortly. Leaving it at that he winked out of existence, only to reappear outside of the cabin.

Looking up at the building Slenderman noted the distinct change in the feeling surrounding it. Whereas before it had held host to an almost frantic energy, it now had become the graveyard of paranoia and loss. Curiosity sparked, Slenderman silently vanished, only to reappear in the cabin's interior.

Cooly he took in his surroundings. The tasteless blend of comfortable furniture and stately containment was irritating, but not overly so. Thoughts of a smile tugged at Slenderman's brain as he noted a dead girl, Catherine if he was not mistaken, hanging from the ornate chandelier. Clearly, The Puppeteer and The Bloody Painter had already had their fun.

Without any rhyme or reason there was a sudden flash as a fire lit itself in the grand fireplace. Slenderman gazed at it for a second before deciding that the cabin, while not entirely adversely affected by the dimension shift, was still adjusting. As if drawn by the warmth or the crackle of burning wood, a presence ghosted into the living room. Even without turning, Slenderman knew who it was.

Bean, clad in a fresh hoodie and nightshirt, blearily stared at the fire as if she had never seen anything like it before. "What the hell?" She muttered to herself, seemingly not alarmed by the oddity of the event. Shrugging she walked to the fresh blaze and sat down on the edge of the hearth, taking a moment to bask in the warmth, still oblivious to Slenderman's presence.

For a moment Slenderman watched her. Every movement fascinated him. What was it about this odd girl that intrigued him so? As he watched, she slowly let her body slump over until she lay draped across the flagstones, as content as could be.

As she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling she wondered aloud, "How many people are trying to kill us? One? Three? Twelve?" Mumbling something unintelligible, Bean buried her face in her hair and continued, "And why am I not dead like the other three? I should be, but I'm still here. Still breathing." Another sigh. "Is he playing with me?"

That gave Slenderman pause. _Was_ he playing with her? It was true she interested him but he was loathe to think of it in such shallow terms as 'playing with'. Victims living their last moments were those he played with, in the twisted sense of the phrase, but Bean…

"And now someone's after Spectra, my only friend. Is this new killer just one of his pawns that he's using to mentally torture me? Is he even involved at all?" Her musings were enlightening, but limited. Slenderman felt an impatience well up within himself at her instant supposition that he was involved. Had he not pulled back the last time he had come in contact with her?

"Who even is he?" She whispered, staring out at the room, blue eyes heavy. As though a gust of cold air had just blown through the room she shivered and sat up. Getting to her feet she mumbled something about going to sleep before slowly starting to stumble away.

"Good evening." With all the grace of a gentleman, Slenderman stepped from the shadows.

Bean spun on her heels, nearly falling over in her shock. Whimpering she scurried back away from his looming figure. "What- how did you- why-?"

Still suffering from his earlier impatience, Slenderman advanced on her quickly. "That is none of you buisness." He informed her shortly.

"Why are you even here?! Isn't it enough that you killed my friends? Is scaring me now just another way to break me down?" When he took another step forward she dug in her pocket and pulled out a small knife only to point it at Slenderman shakily. "S-stay away from me. I'll hurt you!"

If Slenderman had possessed eyes, they would have been sent rolling. Stretching out a tentacle Slenderman plucked the tiny blade from her grasp. "Do you really think that a toothpick like this would stop me if I wanted to kill you?" He asked, voice bordering on anger.

"I sure as hell can try." Bean's stubbornness, her stupid determination, made Slenderman step back and give her some room. He knew that Bean could not actually hurt him but the very fact that she was willing to try, despite the fact that she would lose, gave him pause.

"I am informing you that I do not wish to kill you." He said softly. "If I did, you would be dead, do you understand?"

Bean took another step back, bumped into the couch, and slowly sank down. "Yes, I understand that you are messing with my mind right now. I'm not an idiot."

"I never said that you were." Slenderman watched as she tentatively began to calm down and could not help but feel that progress had been made.

"So, you're not going to refute the mental torture you're putting me through?" She asked, eyes mistrusting and furious. "Because that's what this is, torture."

Slenderman stared at the tiny knife that he still held and muttered, "It is not as if you are not also bothering me."

"Oh, _I_ bother you, is that it?" Her face went from closed off to outraged in a second. "Do you know what it's like waiting for someone to kill you?"

"No actually, I do not." Slenderman admitted.

"You are impossible! Why haven't you killed me already? Why do you keep playing with my mind like this? What did I do to deserve this?" Bean grabbed fistfuls of her own hair and pulled as if it would calm her down. "I've minded my own business for years! I learned to be normal. Why now of all times would some _monster_ pop out of the woodwork to kill me?"

"What exactly did you have to learn?" Slenderman asked, choosing to ignore the rest of her angry words.

"You know very well what." She snarled, still quiet for all her ranting. "You're the one who fucking _ripped_ my nightdress open to find out."

"I was curious." He said simply. "Why should I not be?"

"Fuck you!" Bean hissed.

"That was not an answer my dear." Slenderman said, a touch of humor in his voice.

"You want an answer, how about this: It's because you have no fucking right whatsoever! I didn't ask for this. All I wanted was to forget my fucked up life and live in a happy fantasy of lies. Why can't you understand that?!"

Taken aback for a moment by the sudden outpouring, Slenderman thought for a moment before answering, "Because I do not have the luxury to do so."

"And why is that?"

"It is because you were supposed to be my victim." The moment the words were spoken Bean's entire demeanor quieted. The ire was replaced by fear, the frustration, terror.

"What are you talking about? Like a game? Like a fucking game with our lives!" Bean was shaking but she did not look away. "Is that why my friends died?! Because they were some sort of trophies for you, you sick bastard!"

"No, not precisely." Slenderman muttered.

"Not 'precisely'?" Despite her words Bean was caving in on herself, she was hunched over, her legs were drawn up to her chin and her jaw trembled. "You're playing with our lives! What did we ever do to you."

"Nothing." Slenderman admitted. "Very few of those we kill have done anything to us."

"Hold on a minute, who's we? You _realize_ how twisted it is to kill innocent people and yet you don't even give them a chance?" Again her expression was morphing, now turning from fear to confusion.

Ignoring her first question Slenderman softly said, "It is not twisted, it is life. It is how we survive."

"How you survive?"

"You keep repeating me." Slenderman pointed out, amused.

"If it's how you survive, why haven't you killed me?" Bean asked.

Slenderman had no answer for that. He merely stood there in silence.

Bean blew a forceful breath out through her mouth and asked, "Is there any way for my friends to survive?"

That answer was almost too easy. "Unfortunately, no."

"And are you going to leave me alone?"

"Not at the present moment, no." Slenderman said.

It was almost as the air had left her. Bean wilted onto the couch, as defeated as it was possible to be. "I might as well talk to you then." She muttered, almost to herself. "At least I know you'll be upfront about it when you kill me."

Deciding to take her words as an invitation, Slenderman sat down on the armchair by the fire. He could not help but be curious at her change of heart. Humans could be such mercurial creatures. "That is an odd way of looking at things." He observed.

Face pressed into the cushions to the point where her words were almost indistinguishable, Bean mumbled, "Welcome to my life."

* * *

 _Bean_

Giving up was an interesting process. It started slowly, the realization of the overall gravity of the situation, then it eventually snowballed into the true feelings of helplessness which finally gave way to almost bland acceptance. If there was nothing Bean could do then there was nothing she could do. Unwilling to face the monster before her but still unable to look away, Bean peered through her hair and lashes at him.

The man sat there, elbows resting on the chair's arms and hands folded before him, completely at home. Bean couldn't help but wonder if he often sat like that, contemplative and quiet. It wasn't particularly hard to imagine.

"So," She said at last, struggling to sit up on the sofa. "How many pawns have you sent to kill us?"

Turning to face her, the man softly corrected, "They are not my pawns."

"But you sent them didn't you." Persisted Bean. "You set up this game."

He was silent for a long moment before saying, "It was not my game but all the same I did not stop it."

"Who's game was it?" She asked immediately . "Or would telling me break the rules."

"Technically, this right now is breaking the rules." There was the cadence of amusement in his voice. "It is my turn to ask you a question, Where did you get your wings?"

"None of your business." she grumbled.

"At first I thought you might be part angel, part devil, but that did not fit entirely. It did not explain the ears or tail," he mused. Bean could feel his gaze as he said, "You are a most curious being."

"I never asked to be like this." She whispered, words somber. "I wish I was normal."

"Believe me, it is easiest to accept who you are rather than change." With a well mannered wave of his hand, the man said, "I have found that change, while universally desired, is very rarely enjoyed."

Pulling her knees to her chest Bean muttered, "If my wings were gone tomorrow, I would enjoy that very much."

"Why were you not scared of me?" He queried. "You are the first human to not run away from the sight of me."

Bean shrugged and hunched her shoulders. "You're not the first monster that I've met. You get used to it after a while. Besides," She looked at the crackling fireplace. "I was curious. Why are you so interested in me?"

"Because you defy explanation." He said softly. "Every human I have come into contact with has fit into neat little boxes but you do not."

"I'm just special like that." She muttered sarcastically.

"Indeed you are." Unlike her tone, his was absolutely sincere, if oddly calm.

They were silent for a moment as Bean processed what he had said. _Special?_ A monster more like. Her foster father had drilled into the difference between special and different. Those painful lessons weren't going to go away any time soon.

"There is something on your mind." It wasn't a question. Bean looked at the man before looking down again.

"Maybe." Biting her lip Bean muttered, "I've always got a lot on my mind."

"Another thing that sets you apart." He commented.

"You know, I'd love to be just like everyone else, stop reminding me that there's something wrong with me." Bean snapped.

"Like everyone else. What does that really mean to you? Hating yourself and pretending to be someone you are not?" His words hit her hard. The truth in them was almost overwhelming.

"Maybe I do hate myself for what I am." Bean mumbled. "In my position wouldn't you?"

"I am quite comfortable with being a monster." The man said dryly.

"I meant as a human. You know," She waved her hand around her face. "With an actual face. Going to school and having friends and whatever normal people do."

"You speak as though you think I know what normal is." The man chuckled. "What makes you think I have the barest notion of the terms meaning?"

"I.. I honestly have no idea. I think it's just," She rubbed the side of her arm. "I've never actually talked or even seen someone like me."

"Did you not say that you have seen monsters before?" The question was phrased delicately but it's matter was heavy.

"I've seen them from a distance. They follow me but there's never been any real contact. Personally I've always wondered if I was just crazy. At least," She sighed. "That's what I would think if I didn't know better."

"And you know better how?" Another dangerous question.

"I don't have to tell you." She stated belligerently.

"That is your prerogative. I shall find out one way or another." Idly staring up at the ceiling, the man commented, "They always did have a flair for the extraordinary."

"Who did?" Bean asked at once.

"It matters not, they will not come back. They have finished their part of this game." His statement was so blunt, it was hard to believe he was talking about the death of one of her friends so casually.

"Why did you target us? If what you're saying is true, and there are more of you, then why of all the people us? Was it me?"

"No. Your involvement was nothing more than mere luck. How do you say it, the wrong place at the wrong time." He tapped a finger against the arm of the chair and commented, "I would asume you and your friends were targeted because you were easy prey."

"Please, is there any way you could stop them? I don't want to die and I sure as hell don't want my friends to either."

"Do you speak of those same friends that humiliate you at every turn?"

"Ellie and Sophia might be mean but they're not bad. They're what teenagers are, stupid and naive." She might've hated their guts, but she wasn't going to stand around and let them die without at least trying.

The man's stare sent shivers down Bean's spine. "The wish to survive is a false and temporary hope. It is a foolish wish that is rarely answered." Leaning forward slightly, he added, "If you are a human, you will die, whether it is here or somewhere else. We're just accelerating the process."

"Then why haven't you killed me yet!" She asked, needing a straightforward answer more than ever.

"It is as I said…"

"Yeah I'm freaking special, I got that. Now why don't you cut the crap and tell me the real reason."

"It would do you well to watch your tone." He advised gently. "I am not obligated to tell you my reasons behind my actions and that is something you should strive to remember."

"You're threatening me but you talk like we're best friends or something. Don't you understand? I don't want you to be here! I don't want to die! I just want answers." Her outburst was followed by a brittle silence that stretched into a thin plate of ice that hid what could only be an eruption.

"I wish for answers as well." He said coolly as if she hadn't just cracked. "But you are not willing to give them so why am I expected to extend the same courtesy to you?"

"Because I deserve to know! Have you ever thought about that! You kidnap me. You rip my clothes off and then you interrogate me about why I'm fucking different. If you hadn't noticed, I don't like to talk about it. Yes I have wings. Yes, I have ears and a tail that come out when I lose control. Yes I'm fucking different. I don't have to explain myself to you because frankly _my dear_ , I don't give a damn."

The aura in the room shifted from one of tension to one of amusement. "My my, you are fascinating."  
"Fuck you." She muttered sourly. "Unless you have something useful to say, get out of this house."

Glancing up once more at the swinging Catherine he softly said, "While I can not tell you how to save your friends, I can help you with your deceased ones."

"Don't you dare touch her!" Bean ordered, furious. "She's not yours to play with."

Ignoring her the man got to his feet and moved to stand beneath the chandelier. Reaching up long black tentacles, the man unhooked Catherine from the ceiling and gently lowered her to the couch that Bean was sitting on. "As a show of goodwill." He said simply.

Unsure of how to respond Bean muttered, 'Th-thank you?"

The man nodded before looking out the window of the cabin. "I really must be going. It was a pleasure to speak with you my dear."

A sudden thought struck Bean and she held up a hand. "Wait, if you're serious about coming back, at least give me your name. I'd like to know what to call my murderer if it's all the same to you."

There was a delicate chuckle that was almost drowned out by the steadily increasing static in the air. "You may call me Slenderman." He was gone.

Bean blinked once before staring down at Catherine's peaceful face. Up close, she almost looked as if she was smiling. "What the fuck have I gotten myself into?"

Catherine didn't answer.

 **A/N: Finally! I hope you people are properly grateful. I made IDG sit through two perspectives of Bean x Slenderman for you guys.**

 **IDG: And you'll pay for that, someday. But seriously, *Talks in a dark grim tone* you better not do it again.**

 **Q: *looks away nervously* Yup, that was totally it…**

 **IDG: *Continues in the same tone* Death will be a mercy for you the next time I come across something like that.**

 **Q: Well, if I survive I'll probably update next week. Thanks to all of you people for your lovely comments, they fill me with joy.**

 **IDG: More like filling your soulless body.**

 **Q: Grump *sticks tongue out at IDG* To everyone else, goodbye!**


	11. An Interesting Theory

**A/N: I know you're all going to fall asleep reading this note but I just wanted to point out that last chapter was a turning point. Not only was Bean given Slenderman's name, he also helped her.**

 **I know they've still got a long way to go before their relationship finally comes together but… The journey has begun.**

 **Enjoy.**

 _Emily_

 _Come on Em, you can do this. You'll survive._ Cautiously Emily opened the door to her room, still blinking the last bits of sleep from her almond shaped eyes. The moment the door was open, she knew it was going to be another long day.

The first step out of her room was torture. Emily had spent the whole of last night tossing and turning, trying to block out the monsters that were starting to eat her alive. Images of Catherine were hunting her sanity, slowly clawing away at her senses and sucking the life out of her.

Guilt was her enemy and she couldn't escape it. It wasn't something you just ran away from, it followed you everywhere, to the grave even, and it never let you go. If Catherine had been still alive, maybe, just maybe, Emily could have escaped from her crushing guilt but with the girl dead, there was little chance of atonement.

The second step of of the haven she had convinced herself was actually her apartment bedroom back at college, was less painful. Emily let the remnants of the mental agony assaulting her filter through and fall into place. Together the hate, the fear, the grief and the guilt formed her, made her who she was, millions of tiny pieces sewn together with nothing more than prayers and practice.

Wilted morning light filtered through the windows down in the great room, distilling into paltry shadows that hid nothing. Bleak was the morning and bleak was Emily's mood. If she really thought about it, her entire existence was pretty bleak.

Her third step out of her room was quickly followed by the sound of her door closing and the beginning of whatever hell the day had planned for her. _Maybe,_ she thought with no real conviction, feet dragging her towards the stairs, _Nothing bad will happen._ As if drawn by a magnet, her eyes gravitated towards the massive chandelier and the girl swinging gently from it.

Except Catherine wasn't there.

Instantly panicked, Emily dashed down the stairs and into the living room, frantic eyes searching for the familiar form of Catherine. It didn't take her long to find the girl. She was laid out on the couch like she was sleeping. Racing to her side, Emily looked over the dead girl, noting how peaceful she looked. Her hands were pressed together in a prayer, frozen forever in rigamortis. In that moment, Emily couldn't help but wonder if her last wish had been granted.

Those brief seconds of peace were shattered by a glaring problem: How had Catherine gotten down? From what she could see, Emily guessed that the girl had been placed on the couch and hadn't crashed.

Looking up, Emily felt sick to her stomach. Someone had hung her there for the girls to find and once Catherine had played her piece, she'd been taken down like a picture in a temporary art gallery. That level of casualness seemed like it should have been impossible to attain when it came to corpses but, as thoughts of the Geek girls ran through her mind, Emily realized it was all too easy to treat the dead girls like trash needing to be disposed of.

Staggering to her feet, Emily backed away from Catherine, wondering if she too would end up like the plump girl now sitting on the couch. Would she be killed and exhibited like a show or would she be offed with the calculated efficiency Mackenzie had been. Her death wouldn't be pretty, that was for sure.

And she would die, she realized grimly. The odds that were stacked against her were insurmountable. There was a serial killer after her, there was no way of escape and she was stuck with people that couldn't work together for anything. In her position, how could there be a good ending?

"You know, it almost feels like we're objectives in a game." A soft lazy voice mused from above her. Jerking her head up Emily found Ellie, leaning against the railing, looking like she was working out the problem in front of her. Abruptly turning away from the girl, Emily busied herself making coffee.

"What makes you say that?" Emily queried evenly, trying to steady the shaking in her limbs before she spilled something.

"Maybe I'm not saying this correctly." Ellie muttered. As measured footfalls moved to the stairs and started to descend them, the tall girl paused to observe, "Oh look, Catherine's on the sofa." With a snort she continued, "What's the one thing that you first noticed about these murders?"

"That none of them should have happened." Emily responded as she carefully dumped the coffee grounds into the machine and examined the buttons before choosing the one to start brewing the coffee.

"Apparently sleep doesn't help me articulate my thoughts." Draping her lanky form over the bar stool next to Emily with all the grace of a cat, Ellie amended, "What I'm getting at is what _I've_ noticed about the murders."

"Enlighten me." Emily stared at Ellie expectantly. "What did you notice?"

Wagging a finger at the Asian girl, Ellie _tsked_. "I'm not going to just give you the answers." Grabbing the salt and pepper Ellie elaborated a bit. "Think back to the three deaths." She held up the salt shaker. "How was Taylor killed?"

When Emily said nothing Ellie answered her own question. "She was stabbed eleven times and stuffed in a vent. Also, while examining her I discovered that the gash in her skull wasn't made by a knife. It more closely matched the mark of a axe or hatchet of some kind." Setting down the salt, Ellie lifted the pepper grinder. "While it appeared Mackenzie was merely crushed by falling objects, I suspect she had already been killed before she was buried under those boxes. Her head was crushed in a way that didn't match up to what fell on her." Ellie placed the grinder on the table only to flick it over. "I'm guessing someone crushed her skull with a blunt object, probab a sledgehammer or something like that."

"What's your point?" Emily asked, trying to disguise how captivated she was by Ellie's words and how curious she was as to what the girl had discovered.

"Patience." Ellie reached for an empty mug. "Finally, we have Catherine, hung from the ceiling, wrists slit. Judging by the splatters at the center of that painted rose, I suspect she was hung prior to being killed." Placing the mug beside the fallen pepper and the salt shaker Ellie asked, "Now, what do these three murders all have in common?"

Furrowing her eyebrows, Emily puzzled over the question for a moment. Something in her felt the need to answer correctly or chance looking like a fool. At last she tentatively said, "I don't see any similarities…"

"Exactly!" Ellie thumped the table lightly to accent her word. "They're all completely different. What's more, at least two of them had to have been committed by more than one person."

"But I thought there was only one killer!" Emily protested, the implications of what Ellie was saying clawing at her gut.

"I did too, until I looked at the deaths again that is." Smirking, Ellie continued. "Let's start with the simplest death which is, in my opinion, Kenzie's." Plucking the pepper grinder off the table once more Ellie waved it around as she spoke. "She was crushed. That alone sets her apart from the other murders. Her death wasn't meant to be a show like the others, she was meant to look like an accident. Then the way she was killed was different too. Bludgeoned to death by a blunt weapon is never a pretty way to go, wouldn't you agree Emily?"

Stomach turning, Emily pulled the coffee pot out from the coffee machine and decided that she'd lost all desire to drink it. Pouring the steaming liquid into the mug Ellie still had in front of her Emily muttered, "Yeah, pretty gruesome."

Smiling, Ellie snached the sugar bowl and dumped a generous amount into her black coffee. After taking a sip Ellie tapped the salt shaker and said, "Now look at Taylor. Her death must have taken two people to pull off because of the difficulty of stuffing someone in a vent and the variation of weapons used. While her death might have been more showy than Mackenzie's death, it was far from elaborate. It was a statement unlike the others. A calling card if you will."

"And Catherine?" Emily asked apprehensively. "Her's is pretty confusing."

"Yes, I was stumped about her as well for a while." Ellie mused as she dipped her fingers in her coffee mug and began to doodle around it. "At first I suspected it to be the work of one person because I had been maintaining the idea that there was only one killer but after some careful thought I realized that it would have had to have been committed by two people."

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Emily asked as she watched Ellie swirl her fingers around her mug in the pattern of a rose.

"Easy, splatter marks." Ellie flicked her fingers, spraying fecks of coffee around her mug. "You'll remember the footprints I found? Well, I couldn't imagine why the killer would just stand around if he was working alone, then it hit me; he was the one holding that bowl to catch the blood."

"Okay, that went right over my head." Emily admitted.

"If the killer had merely left the bowl sitting on the floor, thanks to the distance between the chandelier and the floor, the blood would have splattered, which it did, but there was something I noticed about the splatters." Placing the saltshaker next to her mug Ellie flicked more coffee onto the table before removing the shaker. "What do you see?"

Looking down at the splatters Emily at once saw what Ellie had been getting at. "There's a spot clean of splatters."

"Exactly. There must have been someone down on the ground holding the bowl right as Catherine died because there's a large spot empty of splatters behind the footprints. So that means two killers. Also it's hard to miss the intricacy of what was done. It far outdid the other murders in terms of theatricalness."

"So what you're saying is," Started Emily, trying to keep up with Ellie's reasoning, "There are five murderers."

"No Emily, I'm saying there's more than five." Tapping the side of her mug Ellie said, "Just for a moment, I want you to look at Spectra's little story about being almost murdered and I want you to believe it's true, just for the sake of this argument."

Biting her tongue to keep from pointing out that she already _did_ believe Spectra, Emily said, "Okay."

"Spectra said she was chased by an eyeless man with two scalpels. Where have we seen scalpels before?"

"We haven't." Emily answered in confusion.

"Which means it was a different killer." Ellie smirked again, clearly pleased with herself. "Do you see how we're starting to look less like meer victims and more targets? At first I assumed these were random but now I'm wondering, is there a method to this madness?"

"Are there separate killers after each of us." It was phrased as a question but Emily said it like a fact because it made sense. Somehow it all made perfect, horrible, sense.

"But I'm just theorizing." Ellie said flippantly. "I could be wrong."

"But you could be right." Emily looked towards where the other three girls were probably sleeping. "Should we tell them?"

"I don't know, _you're_ the leader." The remark stung. She knew full well that Ellie would be the better leader but there was a difference between knowing and admitting it.

With glowering stare Emily said, "It's your theory."

"That's the problem." Ellie admitted, "It's just a theory. I can't back it up. I might believe it and you might believe me but does that mean the other girls will agree?" Swinging her legs over the side of the stool Ellie hopped off. "That's the trick with being leader, you have to lead yet bend to the will of the people." Flashing an evil grin, Ellie said, "That's why I'd be more of a dictator. It's the only way sometimes."

Trying to disguise the chills running up and down her spine, Emily asked, "Where are you going?"

"To wake up the girls of course, we have a funeral to hold. Get dressed up in your finest, looks like you'll play priest again." With that parting remark Ellie waltzed down the hall to go find Bean and Spectra.

Sighing Emily got to her feet and started towards the stairs. Another long day no doubt.

* * *

 _Sally_

The little girl sat silently in a tree overlooking the makeshift graveyard the girls had created. As she watched, the five of them lifted the dead body of Catherine into the grave, letting her fall with a _whump!_ With hurried movements they covered her with dirt.

"Who wants to say a few words?" The Asian girl asked quietly.

Ellie raised her hand and said, a smirk barely contained in her words, "I would. After all, I'm getting rather good at this."

There was a tightness in the rusty blond haired girl's voice as she said, "Go ahead."

"Catherine, despite the fact that you were fat and whimpy, you were somehow a friend to people here. While I will stand by the fact that you didn't belong, I'm glad you at least tried to get along peaceably with everyone unlike _some_ people I could name." Ellie stepped back with a nod.

Ellie's short friend, Sophia, added flatly, "You made a nice flower."

Obviously trying to hide her ire at the sarcastic pair, the Asian asked, "Anyone else?"

The blue haired girl stepped forward timidly. "Catherine, I'm glad to have known you as a friend. Thank you for your kindness and I hope you're in a better place now."

After a moment of loaded silence the Asian stepped forward. "Catherine, in all the time I've known you, you never argued, you never said a word in anger and you were always nice, even to those who were mean back. I'm sorry that I blamed you for something you didn't do and I hope that even in death, you'll forgive me." Choking slightly on those last words, the girl finished, "I hope you and Taylor are happy now."

"Touching. Absolutely touching." Ellie said sarcastically, pretending to dab away a tear with her sleeve. "Now that we've all paid our respects, let's go back to the house."

"Why are you being so rude!?" The rusty blond exploded. "Can't we just have a moment of silence to-"

"No." Ellie cut her off. "While everyone else has been upset over Catherine, I've been getting the distinct feeling that we're being watched. Now, you can argue with me or you can listen to me."

"You're not the leader." She snapped in anger.

"Yeah but I am." The Asian stared at the angry girl in warning. "We're going back to the house."

"But-"

"We're being watched." Ellie repeated. "So let's get back home before 'watched' turns into 'dead'."

As the five girls walked away Sally smirked. Ellie was more observant than she would have given her credit for.

 _Oh, and if you use me for convenient filler again,_ Sally thought sweetly, _I'm reporting you for child abuse._

* * *

 _Clockwork_

"Come on, there is no way you and Jeff can beat the air vent show." Clockwork smirked, stitched mouth stretching to accommodate the expression.

"Don't bet on it." Jane scoffed. "Just because we don't show it, doesn't mean Jeff and I can't be creative."

"Sure. Like last night." Clock rolled her eyes with a grin.

Jane turned red. "Shut. Up."

Clockwork laughed at her friend's embarrassment. "We _all_ saw it. You and Jeff, _rolling_ around on the ground outside-"

"I swear if you say one more word, I'll tell Toby about those paintings." Jane warned, voice deadly serious.

"That doesn't erase the video Ben took." Clock muttered, even as she schooled her expression.

Jane's face only went redder. "Get him to erase it!"

"No."

Pushing her friend Jane shrieked in outrage, "I won't have that pervert keeping a video of Jeff and I!"

"Oh, who said he was the only one who had a copy." Clockwork raised her eyebrows. "What if there's more than one person who has a video Jane? Just admit it, you made a fool of yourself last night and we're never letting you live it down.

Instead of bursting at her, Jane simply simply grinned "Hmm, is that so."

Clockwork raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"Would you be saying that you have a copy yourself?" Jane seductively cooed, running her hand along Clockwork's thighs. "Would you be saying that you watch the tape, over and over."

Clockwork cleared her throat uncomfortably. "J-Jane, we're both dating… I happen to really _really_ like Toby so-"

"Mmhm." Jane ignored her plea and leaned closer. "You mouth says no, but your body…" Grabbing Clockwork's shaky knees, she purred, "Says yes. Oh, definitely yes."

"Jane, if you don't get off of me right now..." Clockwork could feel herself starting to shake and knew there was sweat beading at her temple.

"You've been rewinding that tape haven't you?" She whispered in her ear."Tell me, who did you like the most? Jeff…" She lightly bit the side of Clock's neck. "Or me."

Clockwork's eyes popped from her socket. "Jane, fuck you, I'm straight!" It came out as a squeek.

"Then explain to the others where you got that hickey." Smirking, Jane suddenly moved out of her space and sat back, as calm as ever.

"You're a bitch, you know that?" Clockwork breathed, still trying to pull herself together.

"That's what Jeff calls me. But then again" She looked her in the eye "You would know that already."

"You do realize I'm going to have to look Toby in the eyes and explain to him why I have a hickey. Do you have any idea how that's going to go down? It's going to suck!" Clockwork hissed.

"Not my problem. You were the one who brought up the videos." Jane's smile was that of a saint. "Now, swear you'll remove the tape from your possession or else…" She clicked her tongue. "I might say something… damaging."

Shifting her hoodie up to cover the swiftly bruising mark, Clockwork muttered, "Fine, consider it gone. Just don't say _anything_ to Toby, this is going to be bad enough as it is."

"Goodness Clockwork, you're panicking over nothing." Jane flipped her hair out of her eyes. "You know that Toby trusts me about as far as he can throw me."

Clockwork rolled her eyes and shifted uncomfortably. "You told me you had something to tell me. Was it really just that you're Bi or was there something else."

"How did you know?" Jane asked in surprise before shaking her head and offhandedly saying, "Yeah, I do have something to talk about. I need your advice."

"Go with the purple gag. Trust me, pink is too much," snorted Clock. "Trust me, I would know."

Jane gave her a weird look before muttering, "No, you know I always go with a black one anyway."

Clock rolled her eyes again."Then what did you want to tell me?" she huffed, crossing her arms.

"Well…" Jane swallowed as if unsure of how to pose the question. "It's kind of serious."

"Ooh, are you contemplating whips? I'm not sure I'm qualified for that." Clockwork mocked, still upset at the earlier incident.

Sighing Jane muttered, "I'm sorry alright. I really need your help here, it has nothing to do with sex okay!"

Clockwork's smirk dropped into a frown. "What do you mean?" She turned around and tried to look at the hunched girl.

"It's… It's about the game." She said in a somber tone. "There's a girl who's still alive. She's… Was a friend of mine."

Clockwork's eyes widened as she quickly got off her seat. She dashed towards the door and made sure it was sealed. "What were you thinking?!" She hissed, her neck prickling with fear as she stared at her friend.

"I-I don't know! I didn't know it would've been that bad." Jane wailed. "I just… Jeff was useless. I figured you would have better advice for me."

"Jane," Clock walked towards her and nervously took her seat. "Does she know about you being part of this?

"No, god no!" She franticly answered "She thinks I'm a human like her, I think."

"Okay, what human in their right mind would have become friends with you?" Clockwork asked, becoming progressively more confused. "No offense."

"I don't know. I'm not sure she was human. I mean, she might have been one of us. She sometimes acted… Strange around others."

"As in social awkward strange or bloodlust strange?" Clock attempted to clarify.

"Um… Both? Maybe, I don't know. She didn't know I was a killer but I don't think she would have run, even if she had known." Jane moaned and put her head in her hands. "In her eyes, she thought of herself as a freak, more so than me."

"Even with that skin of yours?" Clockwork asked skeptically.

"Yes! Thanks for reminding me!" Clock couldn't tell if Jane was upset or not. "The point is, I was really good friends with her until she decided to go off to college, I think."

"So… She ditched you for a better education?" There was understandable confusion in Clock's tone. "And you're defending her why exactly?"

"Because…" Jane swallowed hard. "Because she was my friend. She kept saying I was her first real friend."

Clockwork groaned lightly " Oh _boo_ fucking _hoo_ , listen Jane," She placed her hands on her shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes. "She's a target now. No matter what you do, you can't change a thing."

"What if it was you! Would you've rather stayed scared, counting the seconds before someone hacks your body into pieces. How would you feel if you knew I could've done something about it?"

"Yes." Clockwork's words were steady, contrasting the wild pitch of Jane's voice. "If I found out that my _friend_ had helped kill my friends, I wouldn't want to be saved by them."

Looking up at Clockwork, Jane whispered, "I was hoping you could help saving her."

Groaning, Clockwork shook her head. "Jane, _I'm_ not going to do anything. If there was someone else who she knew that could help her… But there isn't. We can't do _anything._ We'd have to go to Slenderman to be able to do something that wouldn't jeopardize all of us."

Jane tried to open her mouth, but slowly closed it. "I know, Jeff said the same thing." Tears slowly leaked from her eyes and fell onto her lap. "I- Just think about it, okay? I'm not asking you to do anything but if you get the chance, please."

At last, Clockwork nodded. "Okay, as a favor to you, I'll see what I can do."

Suddenly Jane lept up and threw her arms around Clockwork. "I knew I could count on you."

Pushing her off Clockwork muttered, "You're going to owe me one."

"How about I let you play with some of my _toys_? You seem pretty stressed up lately."

Eye starting to twitch, Clockwork fought the urges not to puke. "That's really generous of you, but thanks. How about you not mention the hickey and we'll call it even."

Grinning Jane got to her feet. "Deal." Opening Clocks bedroom door, Jane announced, "Now, I've got to go find a little pointy eared piece of shit. See you later Clock!" But before she could close the door, she popped her head back in and said "I have extra pairs of cuffs you need any. I'm not that selfish." The door shut with a snap.

Rubbing the mark on her neck absently, Clockwork muttered, "Ugh, stupid Jane." Every day it was becoming increasingly more difficult to put up with her but seeing as how the mansion was mostly populated by boys, she didn't really have a choice. Of all the three girls in the mansion, Jane seemed to the most decent, which wasn't saying much to begin with.

Zero didn't always qualify as a human and Sally was… Now that she thought about it, Clockwork couldn't really figure out _what_ Sally's deal was, even though she had known her for a while. During her first encounter with the eight year old, Sally had predicted her getting together with Toby before she even met him. After that, Clockwork had been careful not to delve in too deep into Sally's world.

Which of course, and unfortunately, just left Jane.

 _Extra pairs, huh?_ She thought, remembering what Jane said. _And where did I last see Toby again?_

 **A/N: Well, I narrowly avoided Jane licking Clockwork's ear…**

 **IDG: Meh, still hot enough.**

 **Q: *to the readers* He is such a boy.**

 **IDG: Actually Q…**

 **Q: You think you know a guy…**

 **IDG: No, but… I took an online test and it turns out I'm a ghost… A dead ghost if you will.**

 **Q: *Groans* You're worse than Ben.**

 **IDG: Thank you *Bows down* I'll be here all week.**


	12. A Game within a Game

**A/N: I know this chapter took me forever but I was slightly ill, cut me some slack.**

 **Also, yes, that last chapter was mostly filler but there were some very important parts to it so don't completely discount it.**

 **As for this chapter, enjoy.**

 _Ben_

"I swear, I understand! I'll erase it just please, let me down!" Ben begged helplessly, trying in vain to keep his shirt from falling over his face. In his current position, that particular battle was a lost cause.

For some reason, Jane had a thing with hanging people from the ceiling by their ankles if they incurred her wrath (or possibly when they turned her on, Ben could never be sure with Jane). Apparently, taking a video of Jeff and her had been too much for her to handle because Ben was currently suffering from that punishment himself and he had quickly decided that he'd rather just let Jeff get hung from the ceiling.

"Do you promise you'll get rid of it?" Jane asked, twisting a piece of black hair between thumb and forefinger innocently. "Because I _really_ don't want something like that hanging around."

"Yes!" Ben agreed, a headache starting to form from the blood pooling in his head. "I will get rid of it, now will you please-"

"I don't feel like it." Jane interrupted, small pout twisting into a devilish smirk. "Next time, don't film us." Turning with a cruel grace, Jane waltzed from the room, leaving Ben to attempt to escape on his own.

"You know, you really should stop taking videos of Jane and Jeff doing naughty things." A small, prim voice advised from behind the dangling boy. "They don't like it."

Wiggling to spin himself around Ben found Sally sitting cross-legged on his bed, a smile on her face. "How long have you been there?" He asked in shocked, and understandable, confusion.

"Irrelevant." She said, the hint of a private joke playing across her lips. "Do you want me to let you down?"

Ben furrowed his brow. "I'm not sure how much you can do. You're kind of short." Looking up at the rope tied around his ankles he added, "And I doubt you could untie this." Sally ignored his words, choosing instead to get up and grab his desk chair. Pushing it underneath where he hung, Sally climbed up and reached for the rope. "Sally," Ben started uncertainly, "I don't think-"

Grasping the rope with both hands, Sally pulled and snapped the cord, sending Ben crashing to the floor. "You were saying?" She asked sweetly, hopping down off his chair.

Ben opened his mouth then shut it again, deciding that asking questions probably wouldn't get him anywhere. "It doesn't matter." He grumbled, nimble fingers untying the remnants of the rope from around his ankles. Rubbing the skin roughly to return circulation to them, Ben asked, "What are you here for anyway?"

"Is helping you not a good enough reason?" Sally asked innocently.

"No, it's not." Ben deadpanned, glaring at her. As he got to his feet and pulled his chair over to his laptop, he continued, "Unlike everyone else, I don't buy your inherent goodness."

"That's your problem," Sally informed him, all air of adorableness gone from her tone.

"So what are you here for?" Ben asked, fingers snapping his computer open and flying across the keys, bringing it to life.

"I'm here about the game if you must know." Sally said haughtily. "We still don't have a plan."

"Mm hm." Ben muttered absently as he brought up the video Jane had asked him to delete and transferred it to an online account. "What about it?"

"Well I was thinking-" Sally stopped abruptly and snapped, "Stop messing with your computer!"

With a final keystroke to delete the original video, Ben spun around to face Sally, irritated. "I'm listening." He pointed out when she only glared at him.

Huffing in a way that wasn't supposed to be cute but ended up being anyway, Sally muttered, "I've been watching the girls."

"I know." Ben sighed, rolling his eyes. When she didn't continue he drawled, "Instead of beating around the bush why don't you just cut to the chase, what did you learn?" He couldn't help but be intrigued as to what she'd discovered. Ever since starting this game he'd been trying to find information online about his target, Ellie. So far, he hadn't been doing too well.

"Let me guess," Sally smirked, "You haven't been able to find anything."

Ben grumbled. "I don't have any way to narrow my search parameters. It's not my fault there are tons of college age girls with the name Ellie."

"She's a big gamer." Sally commented casually, examining her fingernails as she did so. "How's that for something to help your search?"

Despite Sally's smug delivery, Ben's interest was instantly sparked. "A gamer, really?" Turning to his computer once more Ben brought up a browser and started searching. "What kind of games does she play? Like, is she into open world type games, first person shooter games or what?"

"According to the plot chart, she's primarily interested in Minecraft." Sally said wisely, walking over to Ben and standing on tiptoe to see over his shoulder. "She plays with that other girl, Sophia. You know, the really short one."

Muttering under his breath about how he'd gotten stuck with the crazy partner, Ben added what she'd said to his search. Almost at once half a dozen results popped up on Ben's screen. Scanning them Ben's eyes widened in awe. "Holy shit… Can you believe our luck."

"Don't swear." Sally clambered up onto his chair to sit next to him and stared at the screen in puzzlement. "What exactly am I looking at?"

Sighing, Ben adopted a lecturing voice and informed the small girl, "This Ellie that we're supposed to kill, she's a YouTuber." Clicking on a few results Ben muttered, "Maybe she's not that famous but she's got some skills. I wouldn't mind playing a few games with her…"

"Ben, if you turn out like Slen- I mean, focus!" Sally barked, hiding her mistake quickly. "She's our victim, don't go getting any ideas."

"Oh I won't." Ben assured her, flicking through the girls various social media profiles in grudging admiration, too enthralled to notice her little slip up. "I don't like it when people are better than me at video games."

"So do you know how we're going to kill her?" Sally asked excitedly.

At last tearing his eyes away from the screen, Ben looked down at the brown mass of curls beside him and corrected, "I don't know how _you're_ going to kill her but I know how I am."

"Not fair!" Sally protested hotly. "I'm gonna be helping too!"

Chuckling Ben got to his feet and stretched. "Admit it Sal, this is my playing field not yours." Turning to smirk at her he casually said, "You're great at what you do and all but this girl's a gamer and I _excel_ at killing those."

"But-" Sally struggled to find a good retort. "But you can't just kill her alone! Those aren't the rules."

"Sally, what exactly can you do to help?" Ben asked, trying not to get too frustrated at the small girl's obstinace.

Sally fished around for a excuse for a moment before giving up and whimpering pitifully. "I just want to help." She pleaded, clearly about to cry.

Faced with Sally's tears, Ben relented, though not willingly. "Listen," he groaned, "I won't kill her, I'll just… gather intel on her or something, like you've been doing. We can wait to kill her later, deal?"

Sniffling Sally nodded. "Okay, I trust you Ben."

With a sigh Ben stepped forward and ruffled Sally's brown locks. "Don't be so worried Sal, this is going to be fun! She'll be dead in a day, I'm sure of it."

"Probably." Sally agreed.

"If you're cool now, I'm gonna get going." Stepping up to his computer, Ben placed his hands flat on the screen and felt his body start to dissolve, becoming insubstantial bits of code as he melded his own signal with that of the laptop. "I'll be back before you know it." He said before his mouth too became nothing but ones and zeros.

Before he could hear Sally's response, Ben flowed into the computer and was gone.

* * *

 _Ellie_

As Ellie's Minecraft character swung it's diamond sword once more, Sophia's character, _ShorterthanU,_ vanished, dead, leaving only her items behind. A few moments later the chat window announced that _Kittygot_Klaws_ had once again won before teleporting both their avatars to the spawn point.

Shoving away from her laptop Ellie leaned around the makeshift recording station Sophia and her had set up just in time to catch her tiny friend flipping her off. "Would it help if I gave you some more cushions to sit on?" She asked Sophia maliciously. "You might be able to see the screen if I do."

"I swear if you don't shut up, I'll make Taylor's death look like a blessing." Sophia warned. "It's no fun to play Hunger Games with only two people." She complained, turning back to her laptop.

"Is that because you keep losing?" Ellie asked innocently. "Because, if there were more people, you would still lose, you just wouldn't always lose to me."

Sophia groaned loudly as her avatar tried to attack Ellie's. "There is a very deep hole somewhere in these woods with your name on it. I will find it and when I do I will fucking kick you into it."

"There's a killer coming for me that'll do that for you." She joked flippantly.

" _The_ killer." Sophia clarified, voice quiet. Ellie rolled her eyes but didn't bother correcting her. Even if Soph didn't think the 'multiple killers' theory held water, Ellie was convinced she would come around eventually.

Switching topics again, Ellie said, "Admit it, you are nowhere near my level." Superiorly, Ellie switched to creative mode and her avatar flew above Sophia's.

"Whatever. Can we switch games?" Sophia asked stubbornly. "This is getting boring."

"Sigh." Ellie muttered in a monotone. "I guess…"

"Thank _god_!" Breathed Sophia, relived.

"But _I_ get to choose the game."

"And then it dies." Attempting once more to hit Ellie's character, Sophia made various irritated noises.

"Calm the fuck down." Ellie murmured, already preparing to log off of their server. "We'll play, like, GTA 5 or something. It's not gonna be the end of the world."

Just as she was about to log off, Ellie noticed a flicker in the corner of her screen. Immediately focusing on it, she stared at the words that had just popped up in her chat box. _[ ]_ _has joined the server._ Furrowing her brows, she distractedly asked, "Hey Soph, who's this person on the server? Is that one of your spare accounts?"

Examining the name, Sophia sounded just as confused as Ellie felt. "I don't have an account without a name…"

"That shouldn't be possible, without internet our server isn't able to be accessed by other people." Curious despite the oddity of what was happening, Ellie turned to face spawn point. There, right where she had expected him to be, was the new player. His avatar's skin was that of Link from Legends of Zelda. Above him, the space that usually held the username was blank.

Moving her character towards her friend's, Sophia muttered, "Okay, that's a hack. It's impossible to make an account without a username."

The new character, Link 2.0, Ellie decided to call him, moved towards them. In the chat window, the words: _**Do you want to play a round?**_ Had appeared.

"Okay, no, I know what you're thinking Ell, but no, it's a bad idea." Sophia warned. "Do not say anything to the strange hacker."

Even as she spoke the player messaged: _**Afraid?**_

Grinning Ellie lazily smirked. "C'mon Sophia, what's one fucking game gonna do. Besides, this might be my only chance to play against someone better than you." Into the chat, she typed the words: _**I'm game. Don't feel bad when you lose.**_

 _ **The same to you little kitty**_ was the mocking reply.

"Oh he did _not_ just go there." Ellie exclaimed, exaggerated sass in her words. To the player she shot back: _**Careful, I bite**_ while at the same time calling, "Sophia, you're playing too, don't you dare log out."

"Wasn't gonna." Came the exhausted sounding reply.

"He is so gonna lose." Ellie muttered, baring her front teeth like the cat she was. Racing to the button that started the minigame, Ellie added, "And I'm going to enjoy it."

As her avatar dropped onto the starting pressure plate, Ellie swiveled her avatar to face Link 2.0 and found that he was already looking at her. While it was true that the few pixels that his eyes were comprised of couldn't actually show emotion, she could have sworn they held a challenge. "Is it just me, or do you not like this guy?"

"I don't like either of you right now." Sophia informed her bluntly. "Why am I even playing, I'm going to die first again anyway."

"Whatever." Focusing on the game Ellie waited to be released from the pressure plate eagerly. Directing her attention to her usual strategy for the first few seconds of the game, Ellie decided which of the starting chests would be most advantageous to open before running off into the woods to find the other randomly generated chests scattered throughout the map.

 _ **You created this map**_. Squinting at the chat message from Link 2.0, Ellie rolled her eyes.

 _ **Your point?**_ She sent back.

 _ **That gives you home court advantage.**_

"He keeps pointing out the obvious like it's gonna change something." Ellie commented with a snort before responding, _**Yeah, so?**_

 _ **What if I changed that?**_

Narrowing her eyes, Ellie stared at the words in disbelief and a touch of amusement. "Are you listening to this?"

Sophia chuckled, "He's an idiot, but at least he's a confident one."

Quickly, Ellie typed a snide response. _**Then change it, I'll kick your Elvin ass either way.**_ The moment she pushed return, her screen flickered once, then the world around her avatar started to dissolve.

"Okay, not fucking cool." Sophia growled, "What the hell is going on?"

"He's doing the impossible." Ellie muttered, impressed despite herself. "And I kinda like it." The blocks around the ring of pressure plates were rearranging themselves, changing the stone mountains and grassy valleys Ellie and Sophia had spent hours perfecting into a dense forest of deliberately derelict ruins. The only things left untouched were the chests in the center of the pressure plate ring.

 _ **Confident now kitty?**_ Link 2.0 mocked.

 _ **I've always fancied myself an ally cat.**_ Ellie responded casually. Looking at the time till start Ellie grinned and muttered, "Three, two, _one_."

As her avatar was released from the pressure plate Ellie sprinted at the chests. Following her usual strategy, Ellie only checked the four closest to her before retreating off into the concrete jungle.

Instinctively, her mind went into autopilot, checking chests, outfitting her character, and getting a good feel for who she was dealing with. In that time, she let her mind wander. "How is he here?" She wondered aloud. "I mean, it's impossible. We've been cut off from internet for three going on four full days now. I'm a pretty good hacker but Soph, there's isn't a signal anywhere. How did he get here?"

"Hang on." Sophia muttered through gritted teeth. "The bastards chasing me."

Sighing, Ellie said, "I'll help you. Any pointers towards your location?"

"I'm still wandering through the maze of houses." She muttered, focus clearly on her game. "I went west."

Following her friend's vague directions, Ellie navigated her character towards Sophia. "You know what else I can't understand; the whole world rebuilding trick. Doing something like that would be hard, unless you had direct access to the code and some serious skills."

"Not if you already had a code and you just needed to transpose it into the existing patterns." Sophia suggested distractedly. "Are you almost here? He's gonna catch me at any second and the only thing I have to defend myself is a loaf of bread and a bow."

"No arrows?" Ellie asked, a purr of amusement in her tone. "Maybe you'll get lucky and he'll be allergic to gluten."

"Oh ha _ha_." Sophia deadpanned. "You know, don't even bother, I'm screwed. Just let me die in a blaze of glory, fighting with bread."

As Ellie's character leapt from one ruined building to another, she muttered, "Okay, where are y-" She stopped as a flash of movement answered her question for her. Using opti-find, she zoomed in on her doomed friend and watched as Link 2.0 caught her at last, killing her swiftly with a diamond sword.

 _ **You've met with a terrible fate…**_ Appeared in the chat window, making Ellie furrow her brows, a little confused.

"You know what!" Sophia pushed away from her side of the table. "I'm done, I'm fucking done. I'm just gonna play candy crush or something while you beat the shit out of that guy."

"Whatever." Ellie responded, laughing. "He's going down." Deciding that there was enough time before the death match to go find more items, Ellie turned her character around and left Link 2.0 to make his obscure references in peace.

"Holy shit!" Sophia exclaimed, excitement in her words. "Holy shit, holy fuck, holy llamas, Ellie, we have a signal. I'm getting perfect reception and the internet's up again. Fuck, shit, what do we do." The sounds of fingers against a touchscreen was preceded by a mutter of, "Actually never mind, I'm calling the police."

"Good idea, and while you're at it, download the next episodes of Until Dawn, I _have_ to know what happens to Emily the Bitch." Ellie instructed, hardly taking her eyes off her own screen. "So you just got the signal?"

"Yeah, well, I haven't checked since we started playing Minecraft earlier but I have a signal n-" Shushing Ellie abruptly Sophia was silent a moment before saying, "Well, our emergency is kind of interesting really. Myself and four other college students are trapped in a cabin in the middle of nowhere."

Ellie caught sight of a flash of green through the ruins. "Link 2.0, I am so going to murder your fucking face."

Probably glaring at her taller friend, Sophia continued, "There _were_ eight of us Mamm but I'm afraid there have been three murders. We seem to be caught in a force field so we actually buried the bodies. No Mamm, this is the first signal we've gotten."

As she rounded the corner of a house, Ellie's view was suddenly blocked by the green avatar of Link 2.0. "Time to die bitch!" she announced with glee.

"That would be very nice, my friends and I would very much like to get out of this alive." As she hung up the phone Sophia muttered, "Now onto the important things. There are three new episodes of Until Dawn."

"Download them all." Ellie danced her avatar around the other player. He mimicked her movements almost mockingly. Suddenly, he struck. She dodged and managed to land a hit. As the fought Ellie noted that while the kid was good, impressively so, he wasn't good enough to beat her. Even though neither of them were landing many hits, she was still doing better.

"Got them!" Sophia announced in triumph. "How're you doing?"

"Oh he dead." Striking him once more with her diamond sword Ellie watched as he died and despawned, leaving his items. A moment later the game teleported her back to the original world and the little _you win_ message appeared in chat.

 _ **We'll meet again.**_ Link 2.0 reassured her before he vanished as he logged out.

Blinking Ellie muttered, "Whoa, not sinister at all."

" _Fuck!_ " Sophia shouted. "The internet's gone!"

"Shit." Ellie logged out of Minecraft and got to her feet, stretching with languid grace.

"Do you think that kid had anything to do with the internet working?" Sophia asked tentatively.

"Probably." Ellie shrugged. "So, you mentioned Until Dawn…?"

Rolling her eyes, Sophia muttered, "I guess I know what we'll be doing for next few hours…"

* * *

 _Masky_

"So I guess Suzy can go play with Charlie?"

With an exasperated groan Sally snatched her doll out of Masky's hand. "This isn't Suzy, this is Annie. Charlie and her can't play together because most of the time they hate each other but they also like to do naughty things together when I'm asleep. They're kind of like Jeff and Jane!"

Masky made a skeptical noise. "Oh?"

"Yep!" Sally tossed Annie behind her haphazardly and picked up a stuffed unicorn. "I like dysfunctional relationships. There are a lot of them around here."

"You could say that again." Masky muttered, picking up a fluffy toy cat and staring at it's bloodstained fur suspiciously.

"I would, but that would be a cliched response and the readers can only stomach so many cliches." Sally nodded wisely as she stared at her stuffed bear. "Isn't that right Charlie?"

Sighing, Masky closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall of Sally's room. Usually, he didn't mind entertaining the little girl but then again, generally, he wasn't so exhausted in the first place.

"You seem stressed." A small finger poked his forehead, right above his mask. Cracking an eye, Masky was met with Sally's concerned face. "What's wrong?"

With a slight shake of his head Masky closed his eyes again. "Nothing's wrong."

"You're a bad liar, even with that mask." Sally responded, voice even and all too grown up for her age. "Something's been bothering you for a couple days now. I just wanna know what."

"It's nothing okay." Reaching out blindly Masky found Sally's head with relative ease and ruffled her feathery brown hair. "Don't worry about it."

"This is about Slendy, isn't it?" She asked quietly. Masky opened his eyes to stare at the girl.

"Is it that obvious?" He asked, a little dismally.

"You have to be an idiot not to notice Slenderman has been off his game lately. I mean, I only listened at his door once and it only took me five minutes to know the author is making a terrible mistake." Sally commented dryly. "Then again, the author has never been one for logical plot lines."

Masky didn't even bother questioning Sally's observations. "It's more that him just being off his game. Sal, he's gone to visit this human three times. Why?" There was a note of pleading in his voice. "Why would the boss do something like that."

"Because humans are fun to _play_ with?" Sally suggested

"Was… Was that meant to have a double meaning?" Masky asked, horrified. "Because I knew Ben was corrupting you but-"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Sally exclaimed. "And look who's talking about double meanings."

Masky was silent for a moment before muttering, "It's worse than I thought."

"Back to Slenderman!" Sally said quickly.

Masky groaned."He's being an idiot. He always tells us that he put those rules in place for a reason, a good one."

"And now he seems like he's doing the very thing he always tells us not to do." Sally finished, her green eyes doleful. "It's kind of worrying, isn't it?"

"Worrying!" Masky let out a sharp, harsh bark of laughter. "It's beyond worrying, it's terrifying. How could a _human_ …"

"You don't that he's going to…. You know." Sally looked up at her open door nervously before leaning in closer and whispering, "Let her go?"

Darkly, Masky responded, "I think he might do worse. I mean, there's never been a human that's drawn his attention before. If they've managed that, who knows how much damage this could end up cause."

"Bigger than that time when you flipped on Toby?"

Masky laughed, remembering the occasion fondly. "Sally, that was nothing. This is above a whole lot of things. If one of us gets involved with a human, nothing too bad happens. It only affects one of us. If Slenderman, the boss, gets tied up with a human, it could affect us all."

"Would we put him down Old Yeller style?" Sally innocently suggested.

"I-" Masky shook his head. "We might be able to. We might have to. If it happens and we don't…"

"They say a shot to the back of the head is the least painful." Sally commented.

"Why do you know this?"

"The Bloody Painter told me!" She said brightly. Brows furrowing she muttered, "But could it kill Slendy..."

"I don't really want to think about it." Masky shuddered.

"Hmm…" Sally shrugged. "I'll have to do some thinking about it. Sorry about your headache by the way."

"Wait what?"

"Too soon?" Sally's mouth turned down slightly. "Give it a moment."

As if on cue a blinding stab of pain hit Masky between the eyes. _I'll be back shortly._ Slenderman's voice echoed around his head like a ricocheting bullet. _Don't let Toby play with the stove again._

"There it is!" Sally seemed pleased with herself.

"I will never understand you." Muttered Masky shaking his head slowly.

"You and the readers both my friend."

 **A/N: So, I just want to say that I'm sorry if I made any mistakes on the Minecraft references. My sister was kind enough to explain but I'm afraid I still didn't fully get what the hell was going on.**

 **IDG: Then why did you choose Minecraft in the first place?**

 **Q: Because I had an idea and I wanted to flesh it out. Deal with it, it's part of the Geek sister's personas anyway.**

 **IDG: If it was me, I would've made them play... MORTAL KOMBAT! *Humming the song***

 **Q: *sigh* Well, until next time (sooner rather than later I hope) Goodbye.**


	13. The Honest Tellings of a Broken Mind

**A/N: This is going to feel mildly random but when I was reading through my comments I noticed Artic called me 'Author chan'.**

 **That is amazing and it made me feel so unbelievably happy and merg (^-^) !**

 **On to the story, enjoy!**

 _?_

A lot of people might agree that it's never _really_ about the journey but the destination. However, that same quote could not have been applied to this recent situation. The priority now was to ride until the end of road. Despite the fact that no matter how much time was spent, the road continued to stretch itself endlessly. Clouded by darkness and pierced with a limited number of light sources.

Even if he was, for the most part, physically stable, the same could not've been said to his mental state. His mind was fogged with paranoid reflections. Once in awhile he'd blink awareness into his mind to avert the inevitable divide between his mind and reality. It was hard to keep himself on track due to the lack of sound and sentient life. The only layer to the monotony was the sound of the engine traveling down the path.

It wasn't until the back side of car slightly bounced off on its original course that he was shaken from his trance fully. Shaking it off as nothing, he returned back to his primary plan. But then another plunge was felt in addition to a low strike against the metal of the car.

 _Hey, did you hit something?_ He ignored the small questions that rocketed around in his head.

The small shake against the back of the car continued out of the rhythm.

 _Maybe a flat?_

"No." He let out the word out of his mouth in a furious tone. Even as he said it the car shook violently once more.

 _The fuck? You better pull over and see._

Groaning he muttered, "You gotta be kidding me."

His sticky crimson fists steered the wheel left and stopped the car next to one of the many familiar set of trees that he passed several times in his journey. He reached for the loaded gun on the following seat and opened the door. He walked towards the trunk of the car where the noise was more audible. Whatever was inside that trunk was knocking against it from the inside. He flicked the safety off and opened the trunk of the car.

Once the door popped open, two bodies were found inside of it. They were obviously police. One seemed dead, pushed to the back of the car while the other was coughing blood and barely breathing.

 _Son of a bitch is still alive!_

The boy ground his teeth together in frustration and raised his fist. The cop's eyes widened and he pleaded with the boy unintelligibly until he was silenced with a well aimed punch. Allowing himself a few more strikes, the boy beat the man's face until it was hardly recognizably before slamming a palm up into the man's nose, driving the bone through the man's brain and effectively killing him

Titling his head back with a gleeful smirk he pointlessly emptied the clip into the two already dead bodies before tossing the handgun into the trunk as well.

"As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster."

And with that line, he shut the trunk once again.

* * *

 _Slenderman_

The only sound that heralded Slenderman's arrival in the cabin's dimension was the small squeak of an unfortunate animal who had been startled by his appearance. When deciding whether or not to pay Bean a visit, Slenderman had found that there were no longer options, he had to go. There was something that kept drawing him back, no matter how many times he promised himself that he would end it.

Slowly, he drew closer to the house, wondering as he went what it was about the human that interested him so much. Chuckling lightly, he admitted that _human_ might be a bit of a stretch. After all, she was so _fascinating._ Not quite a monster, not quite a human and unable to accept either side without being torn apart. Perhaps in the end he _would_ tear her apart, if not physically then emotionally, psychologically. That would, after all, make the most sense.

But no, doing so did not hold any sort of appeal to Slenderman. No matter what way he looked at the problem, he always failed to find a way out of it. Somehow, what had started as a small mistake was turning into something potentially catastrophic.

Yet he still did not care. If he was aware of the problem and knew the solution, how hard could fixing it really be? Apparently, more difficult that it seemed. Pushing the useless musings from his mind, Slenderman continued his silent walk, knowing that most things were inevitable and worrying about them was a distasteful activity at the best of times. Others would most likely do the worrying for him.

As he drew closer to the house, Slenderman was amused to see Bean sitting beside the front door, figure hunched over and curled in on itself. Despite her expressed hatred for them, her rusty fox ears were poking through her wild hair and her tail was wrapped tightly around her, no doubt in an attempt to ward off the chill. Even though he could practically see the shivers rolling off of her, Bean's hoodie was falling haphazardly off her spindly form, allowing the tips of her odd wings to make their presence known.

 _She is waiting for me_. Slenderman realized. _How curious_.

Briefly he considered alerting her of his presence but on a whim, he held himself back. There was something in the way she sat, caved in with her head resting on her knees, eyes staring off into nothing, not quite blank but not quite seeing, that interested him too much to just disturb her. Without hesitation, Slenderman mentally reached for her mind, an irrational desire to know what she was thinking propelling him forward.

Why he cared, that was beyond him.

Slowly, he slipped past her non-existent mental defences and ever so gently prodded at her thoughts. The first thing he noticed was how blank her mind actually was. Of course that should not have surprised him, humans seldom thought through things rationally. What drew him in was the single, direct, powerful emotion that seemed to dominate her entire mind.

Self-hatred. Roiling oceans of deep rooted, impenetrable, self loathing seethed through her like maggots eating away at decomposing flesh. Even as Slenderman dug at it, new layers surged up, overwhelming him. Beginningless and endless, it seemed to stretch into empty nothingness forever.

In that moment, it struck Slenderman how varied human emotions could be, how vast. He himself was clearly a more evolved being, separated from mortals by an infinite chasm. Yet somewhere along the line something had been lost in translation. Yes he could feel emotion, he was far from empty, but it confused him how these pitiful, small, pathetic creatures could feel so much. No matter how small their influence or how limited their interactions with the world were, they had a wide range of reactions that Slenderman had never needed, nor felt.

And then there was Bean, so clearly a monster yet so completely human. Able to feel so much yet unable to accept it. Defying all logic and yet most definitely existing. Continually drawing him in without trying, her mere presence fascinating enough on it's own. A perfect anomaly.

Freeing himself from Bean's mind at last Slenderman observed her for a moment longer before gracefully stepping from the shadows towards her. "Hello my dear." He said, voice a soft, even tempered hiss.

Without so much as a twitch of surprize Bean focused on him and muttered, "Great, you again."

With the faintest touch of a smirk in his voice Slenderman asked, "Were you not waiting for me?"

"What the hell makes you think I'd be waiting for a monster like you?" She mumbled, shifting her position slightly

"If you were truly not waiting for me, then you would not be dressed in such a way. After all, who else in this world would accept what you are without batting an eye?" Slenderman looked up at the sky and pointed out, "It is all too cold for what you are currently wearing."

"Fuck off." Bean muttered sullenly, even as she got to her feet and leaned against the siding of the house, eyes drawn to the ground as if by a magnet. "I don't need to explain myself to you."

"No, you do not. Humans are easily read." He commented blithely.

"Is that why you've spent the past five minutes in the trees watching me?" Bean asked sharply, deep blue eyes narrowing to slits.

Marginally and grudgingly impressed, Slenderman mused, "I see that those ears are not just for show."

Shrugging uncomfortably, Bean mumbled, "You're not all that quiet you know."

"I do now." Slenderman said, mirth in his words. Scrutinizing her half on hoodie, Slenderman asked, "If you are not going to wear it properly, why wear it at all? It will only cramp those wings of yours."

"This?" Bean picked at the hoodie. "Because I can't just take it off. What if someone sees?" After considering the stupidity of her own statement for a moment, Bean amended, "Who cares if they're cramped, at least this way I can pretend they don't exist."

"It is quite hard to get rid of wings." Slenderman commented. "The process would be quite messy and altogether unpleasant."

Rolling her shoulders, Bean's eyes darted to Slenderman's face before flickering away. With an undercurrent of uncertainty, Bean shrugged out of her hoodie, revealing a thin tank top that seemed to allow some room for her wings to breath. Freeing them and ruffling them reluctantly she grumbled out, "Happy now?"

"My emotions are not affected one way or another but in the interest of practicality I suppose that yes, I am now content." Slenderman responded after a moment's quiet deliberation.

"It was a rhetorical quest… Whatever. What do you want?" Bean ground out, eyes sullen.

"Walk with me." Slenderman suggested, extending a white fingered hand in a gentlemanly gesture.

Bean looked at it with a confused gaze "Do I have a choice?"

Slenderman thought for beat before answering, "In the spirit of peaceful relations, yes, you do have a choice."

"So basicly no." Bean said shortly, scratching the edge of her wing as if uncomfortable with its presence.

"If you were able to decide either way without repercussions for your actions, what would your answer be?" Slenderman evenly asked, patience in every syllable.

"Well seeing how I'm pointlessly sitting out in the cold with _no intention whatsoever_ ," She stressed those words ever so slightly, making Slenderman smirk internally. "I don't know."

"Then it is decided." Slenderman finished, pleased. Continuing to proffer his hand he asked, "Shall we go?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Lightly slapping his offered assistance away, Bean lifted her numb body off the side of the house and slowly stepped off the porch. With an air of pleasantry about him, Slenderman followed, careful to match her stride.

For a while, neither spoke. The silence was not tense, per say but it was not easy by a long shot. After enduring this quiet for some time, Bean at last broke it.

"Why me?"

Slenderman, while able to hear her low, somber mumble, did not quite understand the purpose of such a redundant question. "What was that?"

"Why of all the people this happened to me?" Her cerulean eyes clouded over slightly as she continued talking. "I didn't ask for this. I didn't want to be a freak."

"Very few actually ask for a burden to be placed upon them." Slenderman commented wisely. "I believe humans like to tell you it is what you do with it that counts. I prefer to think that those like myself are above such ridiculous notions."

"Easy for you to say. You're a monster plain and simple. There's no escaping that fact, and I can tell that you're typically not a nice… Thing, but I _want_ to have a life. I want to have friends and family." Bean's voice dropped into a hopeless timbre. "I want to experience a life where I can laugh, smile and live without having my ugly side pop up out of the blue."

"Whoever decided that your wings and tail are your ugly side?" Slenderman questioned gently, genuine curiosity swirling about him.

"You still don't get it." She exclaimed, waving her hands wildly as her lopsided wings fluttered in exasperation. "I'm supposed to be a _normal_ human! No wings, no tails, and no furry ears! But how would you know. You don't have friends, you don't have a family, you don't need to hide what you are over and over."

"I would not speak so rashly my dear." Slenderman advised. "While it is true I have never had to hide who I am, I do indeed have those I hold dear to me."

"Let me guess, they're all freaks just like you." Bean retorted with a snort. "My friends died because of your cold hearted _dear ones_. Do they even care who they kill, NO! Because to you it's just a fucking game." Frustrated, Bean looked like she wanted to hit Slenderman, but stopped herself not a moment too soon. "I'm just wasting my breath, you wouldn't get it."

"Why should it not be a game?" Slenderman asked calmly. "Why should we care? Why should we feel anything towards humans who shun us for being who we are?" If he had been able too, he would have smiled sadly.

"You want an answer, why don't you look in the mirror." Bean growled.

"All I see Bean, is a monster. Unlike you however, I have come to terms with it."

"Well I don't want to!" They were both silent for a moment, Bean breathing somewhat heavily while Slenderman merely studied her.

Out of the blue Slenderman asked, "If you could be normal, what then?"

"I-" She stopped momentarily then shook her head. "I'd be normal. What kind of stupid question is that?"

Ignoring her jab, Slenderman queried, "Who raised you Bean? Who created what you are now? What _really_ makes you want to be normal?"

Eyes growing guarded, Bean muttered, "It's really none of your damn business."

"Ah, but it is." Slenderman said. "It has been my business from the moment you were picked to be my victim."

"Then that's how it should be, prey and predator. Not patient and fucked up therapist or something."

"I shall be the judge of that. Tell me, were you always this ashamed of yourself? Did you always hold this hatred for who you were in your heart?" Slenderman asked, unable to hold back his mounting curiosity.

"Maybe, maybe not, maybe you should stop now." Gritting her teeth, Bean growled in an attempt to mask her nervousness.

"Who was your mother Bean?" Slenderman asked gently. "Who gave you those wings and those ears?"

"Stop…" She had reached the point of pleading.

"Who gave you those scars?"

She froze, her entire body going rigid all at once before a look of absolute fear crossed her face. "Just shut up!" She yelled, eyes wild. "Just stop asking me these things!" Clearly forcing herself to move Bean turned away from Slenderman, body caving in on itself as she did.

"If you are not willing to tell me, I can easily dig into your memories and find out for myself." Slenderman's voice was a warning hiss. "Please do not make this harder than it-"

"Then do it! It's not as if I can stop you. At least then you'd just leave me alone!" Bean yelled wildly. "Go on!" Deciding to take her at her word Slenderman touched at her mind only to feel his own engulfed in a inky blackness, memories surging up to meet him like tidal waves.

 _Bean was cowering in a corner, fear coursing through her like fire across wood soaked in gasoline. Tidal waves of misery crashed over her repeatedly, only adding to the trembling in her limbs._

" _You worthless, useless piece of shit!" The voice hollered. "How dare you try to- to fly! If someone saw you- Do you have any idea what you put us through on a daily basis!?" Another glancing blow, this one harder._

" _I-I didn't mean-" Bean's trembling words came out in a mess of tears. "I'm sorry I just wanted to-"_

" _No! You just want to cause more trouble for us!" The man above her practically screamed. "Isn't it enough that we took you in!"_

" _I can't do anything about them though." Bean pleaded, only to be struck again. This time the blow broke the tender skin of her leathery bat wing, allowing blood to dribble from the thin laceration. "I'm sorry!"_

" _Sorry is useless!" Her tormentor shrieked. "The only thing that would help is getting those damn things ripped off. While we're at it, why don't we fucking burn your mutated ears too!"_

 _Covering said ears with pale trembling hands Bean begged, "No, please! I'll behave, I swear!"_

" _Until you can get those damn things under control, nothing will ever change!" The man threatened, accompanying the words with a blow to the back of her head._

" _They go away, I promise, just please stop." Her vision was swimming though whether it was from tears or her throbbing skull, Bean could not tell._

" _This is your last chance for redemption If I see even the slightest hint of your unnaturalness, they won't be your only concern."_

" _This is it, I swear." Bean blubbered, nodding even though it hurt her head. "I swear."_

Forcefully Slenderman yanked himself out of Bean's memories, feeling something akin to horror flash through him before he reigned the unnecessary reaction in and composed himself. "I see." Was the only response he managed to conjure up.

Tears rolling down on her cheeks, Bean used her full strength to push the taller creater away, which did not help at all. "I see?! Is that all you've got to say you sick bastard!"

Slenderman attempted to put his thoughts into one coherent sentence and for the first time in his existence, he failed. Finally he said in a low voice, "You are stronger than you seem, yet when it comes down to it, you are still so... _Weak_."

Bean opened her mouth to say something but all that came out was a guttural sob. Collapsing to the ground she shivered and wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling herself into a small, distraught ball. Clumsily covering her face with her wings, Bean whispered through her tears, "Why Slenderman, why are you doing this to me?"

Slenderman did not respond. Instead, he slowly reached out and, when she made no move to stop him, he ran a hand over her head, smoothing down her hair. _If it works with Sally_ , he reasoned _, It follows that it would work with her._ "Because my dear, I seem to have no choice."

"Please, no more." She choked out. "No more. I want to be alone now."

"Very well." Unable to find the right words to comfort her, Slenderman backed up a few paces before winking out of existence.

* * *

 _Hoodie_

It didn't take a genius to sense the disquiet in the house, hell, it didn't even seem to take a proxy. Even since the game began there had been a surging upheaval within the mansion that, while not always in the forefront of Hoodie's mind, continued to run through the air, an undercurrent of unease.

As he sat, absolutely silent, by the stately fireplace, Hoodie tried to ignore this to the best of his ability. Masky, who sat beside him, was also trying to ignore the palpable tension of the room. Glancing at his partner, he noticed the slight twitch of his fingers, almost as if Masky was unconsciously reaching for his knives.

"So then I'm not the only one, am I?" Hoodie broke the uncomfortable silence, eyes roaming around the room, unable to meet Masky's eyes.

Masky let out a sigh and muttered, "You too?"

"It _has_ been getting worse." Hoodie pointed out, worrying his lip between his teeth without thinking about it.

"So what do you want to do about it?" Masky asked, tapping the arm of his chair absently. "Should we tell the other Pastas?"

"I think they already know." Hoodie admitted with a sigh that matched Masky's. "It doesn't really matter though, does it?"

"Does it?" Masky looked directly at the red eye spots on his mask. "I know that none of the idiots upstairs _really_ listen to the boss, but he's still their boss. He needs to take responsibility and set a good example."

"But should we really care?" Hoodie asked reasonably, confused at how strongly Masky seemed to feel about the situation. "He's the _boss_ , what are we really gonna do?"

"Even though he sits on the proverbial throne, it doesn't mean we're supposed to just sit and watch him destroy what he's built. As his proxies, we're supposed to aid him in situation just like these." Masky snapped

"Aiding him has nothing to do with getting into his business." Hoodie ground out. "You're saying we should tell him how to do his job. That's not helpful, that's suicidal."

"And he'll thank us once he comes to his senses." The masked man beside him snorted.

Turning completely to face Masky, Hoodie spoke slowly, as if talking to a child. "Masky, Slenderman isn't stupid. He probably _knows_ what he's doing. It might not make sense but-"

"Listen to me Brian!" Masky jumped from his chair and exclaimed "I could've agreed with a few days ago, but you can't be this stupid now. How can you not see it? The hoodie, the midnight visits, the constant headaches we've been having because of him, they all point to him being completely off his rocker right now!"

"I think that _you're_ the one off their rocker." Hoodie said softly, distaste for his real name being used like this building up in his gut. "We have no idea what's going on in Slender's mind and yelling at me isn't going to somehow change that."

"Just listen to yourself! You know exactly what I'm talking about." Masky narrowed his eyes. "You've been having headaches as well. You've seen how he's been acting ever since the first night. If you really want to be loyal, then help me help him."

Opening his mouth to shoot back another retort, Hoodie stopped himself and instead turned to leave the room. "You know what, I'm done."

"And where the hell do you think you're going!" Masky demanded.

"I'm going somewhere where your stupidity _isn't_." Hoodie quipped.

Masky stared at him for a moment before throwing his hands in the air. "You know what, fine, if you're going to act this stubborn, then do it. See if I care."

"You know you should hear yourself sometimes." Hoodie furiously shot before closing the front door and stepping outside the mansion.

The cool air was a relief to the headache pounding behind his temples. Masky might be spouting gibberish but he was right about one thing, the headaches were getting worse. Any more of it and Hoodie was sure he'd be bedridden with their severity.

This was ridiculous, of course Slenderman knew what he was doing, how could he not? He was on the top of the food chain. The _boss_. Going against him felt wrong, backwards. True he could see Masky's point in some ways, Slenderman _was_ getting too attached to Bean. It might have been to make her trust him and then end her swiftly, but Hoodie knew that was a lie. A foolish hope that he couldn't help but entertain.

Surely Slenderman wouldn't be so stupid as to develop a… Connection to a human. It was the most forbidden of fruits. A sin no matter how you cut it. Yet surely, surely Slenderman had his reasons. There had to be something, some piece of the puzzle he was missing…

There was a resounding crack that rippled through the air. Turning sharply, Hoodie was hit with a migraine the moment he saw Slenderman. Every inch of the man monster radiated fury as he stormed towards the house. Just being in his presence made Hoodie's own anger well up.

As that thought hit him, Hoodie's eyes widened. _Was that argument I just had with Masky…_

 _Caused by Slenderman?_

It explained so much and yet so little. Of course he never argued with Masky so it stood to reason something else was driving it but why was Slenderman angry all of the sudden?

As if to answer his question (or make it bigger), pain lanced through his skull. Slenderman never got this angry, never this careless with his emotions. What could have possibly affected him so much that it was being projected onto his proxies in such a substantial way?

"Slenderman!" Hoodie called, pushing past the pain, hoping to stop his boss and get some answers before he locked himself away in his office as he so usually did.

"What?" The word was laced with rage, shot like a bullet at the hooded proxy.

Stumbling back Hoodie tried again. "There's something very wrong going on in your head. I know I have no business interfering but it's affecting me and Masky as well."

Slenderman stood still for a moment before his voice echoed inside of Hoodie's head, worsening the migraine. _What goes on in my head is_ none _of your concern!_

"Then at least keep it to yourself!" Hoodie snapped, surpassing his pain. "Please." He added, as an afterthought.

Before Hoodie quite knew what was happening Slenderman had shot out one of his tentacles at him. The moment it made contact he was pulled along with Slender, vanishing only to reappear in his office.

Hoodie stood there a moment, fighting to reorient himself as Slenderman took a seat behind his desk, obviously still angry.

"So?" Slender's tone was leveling out but still held anger.

"What is going on?" Hoodie asked, blinking the spots from his vision.

"As I said before, it is none of your concern."

"The moment I started having headaches for no reason, it became my concern."

Slenderman stared at him a moment longer before slowly letting his head rest in his hands, showing an uncharacteristic defeat that almost scared Hoodie. "I am sorry for affecting you in that way." He said slowly. "It is most unlike me."

"Sir, please let me help you. What's going on with you?" Hoodie inquired with worry.

"Jeffrey's game." Slenderman admitted at last. "That is what is going on."

"Yeah, we'd kinda already figured that out. You haven't killed your victim yet." Hoodie spoke softly as though speaking to a startled animal.

"No, not yet." Looking up at Hoodie Slenderman gestured weakly towards the chair before his desk, urging him to sit. "I am afraid I will not be able to."

"Sit, how could you possibly think like that?" Hoodie inquired, slowly taking a seat in the chair.

"I have watched Bean and learned, quite by accident, that she... She is not precisely human."

Dawning realization mixed with confusion was plain in Hoodie's voice as he admitted, "I- I don't understand."

"I am saying that she is like us, a CreepyPasta." Slenderman answered voice level. "She is most clearly a monster, more clearly than many here."

"Sir that's quite an obscure conclusion." Hoodie chuckled, stopping after sensing Slenderman's unchanged emotion.

"She has wings Hoodie, wings. Please inform me how that is supposed to be obscure?" Slenderman's returned calm tones bordered on testy. "She is most definitely not human."

"But that's impossible. If she's truly one of us then why is she surrounded by humans?"

"I suspect her past has much to do with that. She seems to wish to be human." Slenderman mused, obviously becoming lost to his own thoughts once more.

Hoodie couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Sir, please tell me you're not serious. She can't live. Not only she wishes to hide her true self, but you're judgment is no doubt clouded by the fact you've had direct contact with her."

Attention immediately focusing onto his proxy, Slenderman hissed, "My judgement is rarely clouded."

"If she truly wishes to stay human, then kill her like she's a human." Hoodie said coldly. "Otherwise, convince her she's not human because," There was a bitter edge to his chuckle. "There's only one way it's going to end, and it's not going to have a happy ending."

Slenderman would have glared at Hoodie if he had eyes. As it was, the proxy could feel a chill running down his spine. "I shall be the judge of how this story ends."

"We both know that in the end, you aren't able to decide that. You have no control over who becomes a CreepyPasta and who doesn't." Hoodie said, voice low. "I won't question your decisions but I can tell you where they're going to take you."

"I am well aware of what will happen." Slenderman informed him icily. "Now I wish for you to leave."

Knowing that enough was enough, Hoodie slowly rose to his feet, giving Slenderman one last worried look before walking to the door that swung open before he'd even reached it. He was about to walk through the doorway when Slenderman stopped him.

"Oh, and I would be most appreciative if you did not talk about this with the other Pastas."

Furrowing his brows Hoodie started, "What about-"

"Even Masky. I fear the others will not be so complacent." Slenderman admitted with a chuckle.

"Yes sir." Slowly Hoodie left, pulling the door closed behind him. Taking a deep breath he leaned against the solid oak wood and muttered, "What fresh hell have we gotten ourselves into this time?"

 **A/N: Well isn't this just wonderful. Thank you to Arctic and Lilypad1412 for giving me the idea to give you all a peek into Bean's mind. Your comments are amazing and definitely helpful.**

 **IDG: Extra point to whoever can guess the reference at the beginning of the chapter.**

 **Q: Seriously, it's a brilliant reference.**

 **IDG: No hints.**

 **Q: *groans* Ugh, fine. Next chapter is probably going to be done… eventually.**

 **IDG: Which translates to 'I have no freaking idea when.'**

 **Q: *glares at IDG* Ignore him. Thank you everyone for all your support and lovely comments, they lift my spirits. Until next time, goodbye!**


	14. Sympathy of the Devil

**A/N: And here I am from the land of no-freaking-idea-where to bring you another chapter of this story!**

 **In answer to all your lovely comments, yes, that was a Goodfella's reference! IamDeadGhost insisted and who am I to deny him? So sorry if anyone was disappointed with Bean's backstory, hopefully I'll be able to add a new twist to the cliche or at the very least, make her so cliched she ends up being different.**

 **IDG: *Scratches head in confusion* Huh? That makes no sense, to the point where it does. Mind *Boom* Blown!**

 **Q: Exactly, enjoy!**

 _Bean_

"I swear Ellie, if you ever _touch_ a hammer again, I'll kill you." The surly tones outside her room were what finally woke Bean up. Groggily sitting up, it took her a moment to remember why she was waking up at noon, still dressed in yesterday's clothes.

 _Oh that's right, I decided to take a pleasant stroll with an inhuman killer._ As more memories filtered through her battered mind, the blond haired girl groaned softly. Not only had she gone on a walk with him, she'd also broken down in front of him. _Just peachy._

Rubbing the sleep from her bloodshot eyes, Bean swung herself out of bed and tried to block out the conversation she'd had with Slenderman last night. How the hell had he managed to get so much out of her? Mumbling something even she didn't understand herself, the girl recalled all too clearly how the monster had _invaded_ her mind, digging at her thoughts before leaving her curled up in the forest, pain laid bare for all to see. Absently she ruffled her tangled hair, remembering how Slenderman had done the same when she'd started to cry.

 _Why did he try to comfort me if he's just going to kill me later?_ Struggling to her feet, Bean shifted the hoodie she'd thrown back on before going inside and stared at the door, behind which could be heard furious banging and even more irate yelling. Frustrated that the other girls hadn't even had the decency to inform her what the hell was going on, Bean shuffled to the door and threw it open to find Emily and Sophia arguing frustratedly while Ellie waved a hammer around like she was trying to decide who to kill first.

Noticing her, Ellie locked eyes with Bean and smirked. "How you doing, your majesty. Does Sleeping Beauty require more time to rest or does she at last have orders for her subjects?"

"What time is it?" Bean mumbled, still trying to puzzle out what was going on.

"Time for you to get off your ass and help us. I swear, when the next serial killer comes calling, we'll throw you out first." Sophia grouched, pointing a few loose nails and one out of place screw at the confused girl. If it weren't for the fact she probably wasn't even 4'8" and more cute than menacing, Bean would have backed up. As it was, she stood her ground and even leaned over so she could look the shorter girl in the eyes.

"What do you want me to do? I just woke up!" She groused, throwing her arms in the air in mock surrender.

"We've still got the windows in the attic. Make yourself useful and go help Blue." The short girl ordered sharply. "Because trust me, if we needed someone to stand around doing nothing, we could have dug Tay Tay up."

"What are we even doing?" She asked in outrage, standing up straight to look at the other two girls before glaring back down at Sophia. "What part of 'I just woke up' are you failing to understand shorty?"

"What part of 'get off your ass and start barricading the windows upstairs' did _you_ not understand?" Sophia shouted back. "And don't call me short!"

"What can I say Soph," Ellie said with a careless shrug, hammer coming dangerously close to braining Emily. "The girl tells it like it is."

"Watch where you're poking that thing!" Emily snapped, leaning back and looking at Ellie like she was insane.

"I'll _poke_ it wherever I want." Ellie announced, shoving the hammer's head into her Asian friend's chest, no doubt confirming the allusions to insanity.

"She said, while pushing it in harder." Sophia muttered a sly look on her face, deflecting Ellie's slap with her loose screws.

Struggling not to smack her face in exasperation, Bean muttered, "You know what, I'll go find Spectra. You guys… keep doing what you're doing." Quickly backing up, the tired girl shuffled towards the stairs, wondering where exactly the attic was but unwilling to go back and ask the three stooges for help.

It made sense that they were finally getting their act together and doing something to protect themselves, even if Bean knew full well it wouldn't work. The thought only left her feeling sick to her stomach. Even if her friends defended themselves and worked together, that action alone seeming impossible, they couldn't win. The only thing it seemed to accomplish was buy themselves a little more time.

 _I guess that's our fate, to bury each other until there's no one left._ Feeling a headache coming on, Bean closed her eyes for a moment before moving once more, taking the stairs one steps at a time. All she had to focus on was this moment, otherwise, she might just go crazy.

After wandering around, searching for the attic, Bean finally found the dusty ladder leading up to it extended down into the bathroom. Something about the air filtering down to cover her settled a chill over her skin. It wasn't even particularly cold but she knew there was something about it that clung to her and infected her lungs with death and decay.

 _Thinking about it isn't gonna make it go away._ Rolling her neck, the blue eyed girl firmly gripped the ladder and ascended it, willingly giving herself up to the crypt like air above her. Darkening around her, the light seemed to be sucked out from her surroundings the further she went. Even with her abnormally good night vision, Bean found herself squinting against the dust that swirled around her in swelling clouds.

The moment she reached the top and took her first step into the cobwebbed interior of the attic, Bean realized the chill wasn't from the room per say, rather it seemed to be rolling off of her blue haired friend who crouched before the mosaic of small windows that seemed to be the only source of light. Spectra's movements seemed to be almost trance-like, calling to mind a ghost in the way she flickered in the scant illumination. Bean took a moment to stare at her before shaking her head and walking forward, blaming the odd feelings on the paranoia that had started haunting her.

"Can you believe those three, it's not as if wood would stop the monsters from entering." Bean chuckled loudly, trying to capture the other girl's attention. "It's not as if they're the aliens from Signs."

She'd certainly spoken loud enough, the small space amplifying her voice, but Spectra acted as though she hadn't heard her. Instead she simply raised her hammer to the next nail of the plank she was working on and continued to pound it into place.

"Spectra? Are you alright?"

Spectra stopped banging the hammer against the nail and glared at her. "Where we you last night?" By her tone, she sounded more demanding than asking.

"In my room."

Spectra let out a sigh and pinched her nose. "Bean, it's one thing lying to me, but treating me like an idiot, that's another thing."

"I'm not treating you like an idiot." Bean muttered impatiently, "I was in my room last night. You were there too, right? After you were done wandering around, right?

"Oh, is that so. So you just happened to be sleepwalking and somehow went on a lovely walk outside before sneaking back in through the front door, looking like you'd been hit with a bus." Spectra nodded in false encouragement. "Yeah that makes sense."

"It's not like that." Bean protested hotly, suddenly nervous. Had Spectra seen her tail? She'd done her best to hide it but there was only so much she could do with something that ungainly.

"Then please, enlighten me." Spectra got to her feet and calmly walked towards Bean, purple eyes sparkling as she continued, "I've got nothing better to do other than count the number of times I've stayed up while my best friend having pleasant night walks with a fucking psychopath."

"He came to me." Bean quietly muttered. "It's not like I want to spend time with him."

Instead of scolding at her, Spectra simply threw her hands in air. "Why am I not surprised. Because it's too hard to just admit to _your_ friends that there's a monster on the loose, and it's just too difficult to say 'no' to it since you two are such good friends."

"He's not 'on the loose' alright!" Bean had no idea why she felt the need to defend Slenderman's motives but she was indeed bristling at Spectra's words. "For your information, he's not after you guys! He's just after me."

"May I remind you that I almost got killed, that half of our friends died because of him."

"Yeah well you didn't." Bean muttered offhandedly. "And it wasn't his fault. The incidents are completely unrelated."

"Do you hear yourself, you're defending him!" Spectra yelled incredulously. "Are you seriously putting him before our safety. I can't believe I'm saying this but Ellie was right."

"What exactly was Ellie right about?" Bean hissed, anger bubbling under her skin.

"The deaths, the _accidents,_ They are related." Spectra reached her hands out as though presenting the information before clenching her open palms into fists. "Why would he come to you exactly after Taylor was murdered."

"He came before." Bean started uncertainly. "He never had anything to do with-"

Unable to hold in her disbelief, Spectra disappointedly scolded, "I can't believe you Bean. We are on a verge of being murdered. Our friends were killed and we had to bury them. Doesn't that mean anything t-?"

"At least he's trying to understand what's going on!" Bean finally shouted over her friend's chastisement. "I know he's a murderer but he hasn't killed any of us. And he won't kill anyone but me."

"How can you be so sure?" Spectra's words were even and quiet, emanating the chill of death that seemed to be swirling about her in excess.

 _How can I?_ Bean realized, the thought hitting her between the eyes abruptly. _What proof do I have? He's evil but I believe him._ "I can't be." She at last mumbled, gaze flickering to the floor, unable to look at the disappointment in Spectra's eyes a moment longer.

"See. He's using you for something, trust me, I've had experience in trusting too much and it cost me dearly. Please, just promise that you won't go near him again." There was a plea in her tone that Bean couldn't ignore.

Taking a deep breath, she shut her eyes. _It's not going to mean anything._ Her mind warned her _. He's still going to come and want to talk. There's nothing you can do to stop him._

"Yeah, I promise Spec, I won't go near him again." As the lie slipped off her tongue, she instantly felt filthy. A white lie it might be but she cared deeply about Spectra and she couldn't help but be terrified what her friend would think when she realized Bean had no inclination of stopping her midnight conversations with Slenderman.

Inner turmoil unnoticed by Spectra, a warm smile crossed her lips, as her arms wrapped themselves around Bean. "I'm happy that you finally understand. Please, I just don't want you to make the same mistakes I did in the past."

"Okay, let's just help nailing the windows."

* * *

 _Laughing Jack_

The high pitched shrieks of laughter coming from the monochrome clown echoed off the walls of the living room, reverberating back on themselves as they tangled into a cacophonous sound. He was being rude, yes, but honestly, Laughing Jack couldn't help himself. After all the mildly irritated look on the face of the blind boy before him was just too funny to pass up.

"Are you done yet?" EJ asked irritably, tching softly as he did so. Panting, LJ struggled to catch his breath before letting out another snort of muffled laughter, bending at the waist as his stomach cramped with the intensity of his mirth.

"But tootsie, this is just too damn _priceless_!" He managed between wheezing gasps. "You, a _CreepyPasta_ bested by a scared girl." _It's even better the second time!_ LJ realized as he attempted not to break out in another fit of laughter.

"Shut the hell up!" EJ angrily protested furrowing his eyebrows in ire."It's not like you could've done any better."

"Yeah, sure," LJ rolled his eyes and reached forward to poke the boy's nose. "I can't even _begin_ to imagine how hard it is to take down a little mousy girl who can barely hold her screams." Following that, he let out another series of laughs that sounded choked and raspy. "It's like shooting fish in a barrel… Oh wait, that would be a challenge for you wouldn't it?"

"I'm serious you asshole." Striking a punch on his shoulder, he managed to cut off the clown's laughter. "Don't let the 'No-eyes' thing fool you. When I'm in a fight, I don't miss."

"Then how did you miss this time, hmm?" Leaning forward and rocking to his toes, LJ tilted his head in mock inquisitiveness, sharp toothed grin coating his features.

"I… I can't explain it." EJ replied with a sigh. "One second she was there, the other… Poof. She was gone." LJ waited for a second to see if the blind boy was joking. When it became clear he wasn't, the monochromatic clown let out a howl of laughter.

"Oooh," LJ waved his fingers before the lanky killer in an exaggerated manner. "It's a _ghost!_ " He followed his works with another cackle.

"Shut up you prick. I know a meatbag when I see one. And this one…" Unable to find the words, EJ cut himself off.

"Come on EJ, did she put her hands on you and _freeze_ your soul?" He continued sarcastically. "Did she walk through walls and throw furnitures at you?" LJ practically jumped with delight as he continued to mercilessly taunt EJ.

"She might as well have walked through walls!" EJ yelled furiously.

"Because at least then you'd have an excuse of why a girl managed to escape you."

"I'd like to see you do better." EJ snorted.

"You know, you keep saying that like I won't. When I kill her, I'll bring you her heart as a souvenir." LJ wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "I know how much you like the hearts of young girls."

"I eat kidneys asshole." EJ growled in irritation.

"I'll tell you what, When I kill her and bring her heart, you're going to have to admit to me, no to the whole mansion, that you're a wimp that can't even kill one girl." LJ proudly challenged, reaching his hand forward. "C'mon, shake on it?"

"And if you fail?" EJ asked skeptically.

"Which I won't." LJ pointed out.

"But if you do, then we'll kill her together, _but_ I get to deal the last blow." EJ reasonably suggested.

Gritting his teeth at the unfairness of his suggestion, LJ brightly said, "Well, if you dream hard enough, your wish will be granted."

Groaning mildly, EJ reached his hand and shook his. "I'm just warning you, she's stronger than you think. Don't underestimate her.

"Sure, this coming from the guy who can't see-"

Unable to withstand his disrespectful attitude, EJ threw a powerful punch into his face. "Did you see that coming?" He pulled his fist back, dropping the joker to the ground with a now throbbing jaw. "And for your information, if she was a ghost, then why was she solid, idiot."

As he watched the furious killer's retreat, LJ started to laugh once more, wincing as his face protested the action. There were _many_ ways for ghostly things to be solid but for the most part, EJ had proved what LJ had been trying to tell him the entire time.

 _Doesn't really matter anyway,_ the clown reasoned as he picked himself up the ground. _She'll be dead soon enough if I have any say in it._

* * *

 _Sophia_

Grumbling something under her breath about not being fair to short people, Sophia stood on her toes, trying to reach the glasses in the cupboard above her head without breaking anything. She was sure Ellie had rearranged the shelves, specifically so she couldn't get to anything useful. "It's like she wants me to ask her for help." The brunette grumbled, finally fumbling a glass off the shelf and catching the one she knocked over in the process.

Turning back to the island, Sophia opened the bottle of whiskey and sniffed it before pouring some for herself. As she took a sip that, while not nearly as bad as the cigarette Ellie had convinced her to try, burned going down, she marveled at how normal the evening seemed. With the sun setting through the high window above the front door, one of the only ones they hadn't blocked up, she could almost convince herself that she was at home.

Heavy footsteps coming down the stairs broke Sophia's train of thought. Looking up she saw Emily, face drawn and exhausted, dragging herself down the stairs. Smirking at the sight of her Asian friend, she waited till the girl reached the bottom before calling out, "Rough day?"

Flicking her gaze over towards the kitchen and looking momentarily confused, Emily at last spotted the short girl and nodded. "Well, I guess that's a fair statement."

"Can I get you something?" She wiggled the bottle. "Whiskey?"

"I don't think you're legally allowed to drink." Emily started nervously.

"Eh, fuck it, we're all gonna die anyway." Looking through the rest of their alcohol supply, Sophia pulled out some wine and held it up. "This look good to you?"

Emily stared at her for a moment before sighing and sitting down heavily on a stool at the island. "Sure, anything to take the edge off of this shitty week."

Quickly pouring some of the dull red liquid into the second glass, Sophia attempted to reach over the counter to hand it to her, only to find her arms weren't long enough. Muttering threats of anarchy, the short girl walked around the counter and handed the glass to her friend. "Drink up." Taking the seat across from her, Sophia tipped her own glass forward in a mock toast before asking, "Something on your mind?"

"This whole thing is unbelievable." Emily sighed, voice pitched in a sombering tone. "One moment we're enjoying a nice, relaxing vacation, and the next thing you know, we're barricading the cabin and burying our friends."

"You make it sound like you don't know how it happened." Sophia observed, taking another sip of her whiskey and frowning at the taste. "It's not all that unbelievable if you think about it."

"The most bizarre part for me is, how can you and Ellie act so casual in the middle of all this?" Emily asked, waving her glass around wildly, looking miserable.

"You might as well ask why the sky is blue or the grass is green." Sophia muttered, the hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth. "There's a reason, it's just not as exciting as the one you're hoping for."

"Well then enlighten me." Emily suggested, eyes tired. "Because I sure as hell haven't been able to figure it out."

"We just simply don't care about death." Snorting softly in laughter, Sophia amended, "Actually, we don't care about a lot of things. The world is a very fucked up place Em, it's easier when you just let it all roll off of you like water."

"That's it?" Emily asked, incredulous. "I guess you weren't kidding when you said it wasn't interesting."

"Well, I guess there's more to it than that." Sophia admitted, looking out at the almost totally set sun and tilting her head, miffed. "Huh, you know, it's only six and the sun's almost gone. Different from back at college."

"Really? That's your biggest concern?" Emily burst out angrily.

"I wouldn't say it's my biggest concern." Sophia objected smoothly. "But I would say that it's about equal with 98 percent of my other ones." Laughing, she added, "If I had to come up with the most pressing concern of mine currently, it would be hearing Ellie while she playing Witcher 3. God she so into him, to the point where I believe she considers him her husband."

"I have no idea what you're talking about…" Emily muttered, taking another draught of her drink before gesturing for Sophia to pour her more.

Smirking, Sophia did as she was bid. "After that, I suppose I'm most worried about running out of chips. That would suck." Craftily meeting Emily's eyes, Sophia asked, "So what about you miss leader, what is _your_ biggest concern?"

"Other than getting the hell out of here in one piece?" Emily asked with her eyebrows raised, mouth turning down in a confused frown.

"Obvious answer is obvious." Sophia drawled, rolling her eyes.

"Well, I think... " Emily paused briefly as if unable to pinpoint one specific concern. Tapping her fingers to indicate she was growing tired of waiting, Sophia finished her drink and stared at the bottom as if it had personally wronged her.

"How about asking for forgiveness?" Sophia suggested, a devilish grin on her lips. Reaching for the bottle of whiskey, she poured herself a generous amount before taking a sip and sighing as the now familiar fire coursed through her veins.

She watched in amusement as Emily shivered, clearly uncomfortable. "W-what do you mean?" She stuttered, trying to steady her now shaky grip on the glass.

Sighing, Sophia gestured with her own. "As a leader, you haven't done very well. Letting Catherine die like that," She shook her head. "Deplorable."

"That wasn't my _fault."_ Emily insisted, voice like chilled venom. Somehow, the tones were like a calming tune to the short brunette, a kind of song she could understand.

"They all say that. The guilty are all the same." Clicking her tongue regretfully, Sophia added, "But in the end, they all sing the same music at the gates of hell."

"I think you're drunk." Emily tried, scowl deepening. _Such beautiful denial_ , Sophia marveled, biting the inside of her cheek in admiration.

"Quite the contrary Em, I'm perfectly sober. It's you who are suffering from clouded vision." The grove her words fell into, their well versed trail, slid off her tongue so easily it was like smoke. "You're hiding right now, aren't' you?"

"Shut up! I didn't do jackshit!" Her firm grip tightened around the glass.

"Oh if only that were true." Sophia sighed in a show of sympathy. "You had no way of knowing what would happen but," She sharply rapped the knuckles of her free hand against the counter. "Catherine still died."

Emily's rage finally broke as she flung her glass against the wall in a show of ire. There was a smirk on her face as Sophia straightened, having dodged the projectile smoothly. "I didn't kill her! I was protecting my friends from someone who I thought was a killer!" She got to her feet, anger in every motion.

"Take it easy Em, I'm not blaming you. I'm only here to state the facts." Reflectively sipping her whiskey, Sophia admitted, "It could have been any one of us who ordered that poor girl to sleep apart from safety."

"Thank you." The Asian girl visibly relaxed, taking her seat once more. As Emily looked down at her hands, Sophia could see the guilt in her eyes.

"But in the end, it was you." Her words sounded like the final nails in the coffin. "At some point, you're going to have to pay the piper Emily." Before her eyes, her friend fell apart, anger, guilt and fear all spilling out before her like she'd been cut open. The sight brought a smile to Sophia's face.

"It w-was an accident." Emily mumbled, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. "I didn't mean to hurt her."

"But you ended up doing it, and more." Sophia sinisterly added on, ticking off the instances on her fingers. "When you blamed her, when you made fun of her, when you made her sleep out here, need I go on?"

"Stop it. You're guilty as much as I am." With gritted teeth, Emily looked up and hissed at Sophia's smirk. "You agreed with me."

"Is that so?" Sophia wondered curiously. "As far as I know, I'm a cruel, slightly sadistic bitch, but not a killer. You on the other hand ordered her to her demise." The way her friend's face twisted in terror was just too addicting to leave be.

Seemingly unable to find something to counter the cold brunette across the counter from her, Emily helplessly sobbed.

"Who knows, Maybe in the end, two wrongs can make a right." Sophia pointed out, voice tinged with pity rather than sympathy. "Have you ever thought of asking for forgiveness?"

"What good would that do?" Emily spat, residual anger flaring up.

"Heck if I know. I don't usually feel much remorse for my actions." Sophia admitted with a laugh.

"Shut up, just shut up you bitch."

"Hear me out." the short girl insisted, no longer smiling. "Let's just say that Catherine _could_ hear you right now. What would you say to her?" Leaning forward dramatically, she suggested, "Maybe saying it to her _now_ would help."

"Why do you even care! You shove the guilt down my throat then you offer me ways to deal with my grief, after you sinisterly demolish me you cold hearted bitch." More tears rolled her cheeks and she appeared to be be unable to proceed any further.

Taking another sip of her drink, Sophia shrugged, "I'm not making you do anything. I might be a bitch, but at least I don't gloss over the facts."

Getting to her feet, Emily weakly asked, "Why do you keep manipulating me like this."

"Because acceptance is the first step towards healing." Sophia suggested sarcastically. "Em, if you're going to be fit to lead, don't you think you should make peace with your demons before pointing out ours? Remove the plank from thine own eye before pointing out the spec in your brother's"

"Please, enough. Just… Leave me alone." Moving away from the bar, Emily tentatively walked towards the front door and paused as if unsure whether to continue.

"Remember, I'm just trying to break you and rebuild you stronger." Sophia called, satisfied when her friend put her hand on the doorknob and turned, soundlessly walking out onto the porch.

As the door closed behind Emily, Sophia waited a full ten seconds before letting laughter bubble out of her. "Ah who am I kidding?" She asked to no one in particular. "I just love fucking with you people."

 _Besides, we're all going to die anyway._

 **A/N: I'm so sorry about the long hiatus. I've had exams and papers and craziness these last two weeks but that's all over so I** _ **promise**_ **I'll be posting more stuff.**

 **IDG: Now, onto real matters. Guys, help us out here, miss Q here thinks that Tetris is so lame and redundant. What do you think?**

 **Q: You weren't being sarcastic… But seriously, Ellie wouldn't be upstairs playing** _ **Tetris,**_ **I'm sorry but no.**

 **IDG: YOU…! Actually no, guys you be the judge. Team Tetris, or whatever she represents.**

 **Q: Modern games or oldies, you guys be the judge.**

 **IDG: Hey, whoa! Nobody said anything about hating the modern games. I love play Call Of Duty but at the same time I'd enjoy playing classic Contra. I'm just saying, retro games deserve a look back.**

 **Q: Just let the readers decide. Solve our argument for us! Anyway, we'll post more later. Until then, Bye!**


	15. There ain't No Rest for the Wicked

**A/N: Guess what guys, we're going to kill-** _ **Mmlph mmm!**_

 **IDG:** _ *** Covering Q's mouth***_ **Don't you dare!**

 **Q: Hey! Don't stop me when I'm talking!**

 **IDG: Don't believe her guys, she's sick. She has… Kryptonite poisoning.**

 **Q: *huffs in annoyance* I was just trying to help the readers out a little. Wouldn't you hate it if- H** _ **Mmm!**_

 **IDG: *Gagging Q* just enjoy the damn chapter.**

 _Jane_

"This is revenge Jeff." Muttered Jane to herself as she stalked towards the Slender dimension's border. "For being such an asshole." Swiping at the low hanging branch that caught at her hair, the irate killer growled, "If you're going to insist we kill my friend, then I'm going to deny you the enjoyment of killing our target _just_ because I can."

"I can't wait to see the look on your face." A thin, cruel smirk found its way onto Jane's face at the thought. "Oh wait, never mind, you only _have_ one expression anyway."

"And I'm not letting you try and weasel your way back into my good graces by making out with me. Fuck that, I'm going to actually stay mad this time," Jane insisted to the forested expanse of no one.

Pausing to glare at the border, Jane added, "And I'm going to stop talking to myself. Otherwise, I'm going to turn into Sally or something."

"Naw you won't. I mean, you're insane Princess but you aren't quite _that_ insane." Quick as a snake, Jane flicked out her knife, slicing through the air behind her and just missing Jeff's smiling features.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" She asked furiously, rage welling up inside her as she stared at her boyfriend. _Why is it that everytime I try to do something on my own, he shows up?_

"Well, since it's very nice out this evening, what with all the dead air and creepy trees, I decided to… _What the fuck do you think I'm doing?_ " Jeff's jocular demeanor dropped at once as suppressed irritation wiped it away. "Why do you always treat me like I'm an idiot? I knew you'd try to get back to me in some way so when I saw you leaving with your knife, looking like you were going to kill someone, I followed you." Locking eyes with her, the perpetually grinning killer added, "I knew you were going to go kill _our_ target."

Of course Jeff knew, he fucking knew everything. Why on earth did she put up with him anyway. "Fuck you too." Jane muttered, practically exhaling smoke.

"How kind." Shrugging away her insult, Jeff grabbed her wrist in a tight hold. "Now, kiss your _oh so devious plans_ goodbye because there is _no way_ I'm letting you kill Asian chick on your own."

Ceasing in her pointless struggles to free herself, Jane fell back on her favorite approach when dealing with Jeff: cutting at his offending hand with her knife. Her efforts were met with an immediate splash of crimson, staining Jeff's white skin.

"Jesus Sunshine!" Letting her go immediately, Jeff cradled his injured limb. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Is it that time of the month again?"

"Do you want to die?" Jane growled, black eyes narrowed. "Because I can _totally_ do that for you."

"So it is that time of the-" He was cut off by a backhanded slap across the face. Manic eyes swirling with malic, Jeff asked, "Is it wrong if it's turning me on?"

"You're unbelievable!" Jane threw her arms in the air.

"I get that a lot Princess. Mostly from you." Drawing his own knife from his hoodie, Jeff leveled it at Jane and casually asked, "So, are you gonna keep bitching or are we going to kill something."

"I never should've agreed to go out with you!" Jane spat irritably, sick of Jeff's constant mockery. "You're a total bastard."

"It's just one word Janey, one word and you can end this _miserable_ relationship." Jeff taunted lightly. "You seem to be on a short fuse right now though so you might want to _sleep_ on it."

Lashing out at the grinning killer with her already bloody blade, Jane yelled, "Fuck you, you're such an awful person. Why are you acting like this?

"Awful person?" Jeff questioned mockingly while dodging her attack. "Even Sally can come up with better insults."

"If I had a penny for every time you told me I could do better, I'd be doing way better than you." Jane sarcastically responded. "If I want to go kill someone on my own, then I'm going to fucking do it. You can take your insults and your shitty knife and shove them up your-"

"I'd rather shove them up yours." Jeff lunged forward, barely dodging her slash. "In fact, I wouldn't mind doing it- GAH!"

Jane balanced herself and delivered a powerful kick to his kneecap, crippling him momentarily. Proceeding to strike his spine and force him on the ground, Jane held her knife to his throat.

"Nice try princess." Jeff said with a grin craining his neck to avoid her knife and look up at her.

"I swear Jeff, if you call me with those ridiculous nicknames again, I'll slash your vocal cords and leave you a mute for the rest of your life." Jane threatened, unwilling to back down despite the momentary uncertainty that shot through her. _I'm so done with him. If he doesn't stop trying to piss me off I swear-_

"I prefer my idea more." Jane felt her feet leave the ground as Jeff tackled her, forcing her knife away from his pale throat and crashing them both unceremoniously through the barrier. Popping into existence once more, the two rolled on the ground, both vying for control of the situation.

When Jane's head smacked into the trunk of a tree and she let out a cry of agony, Jeff took it as an opportunity to pull himself away quickly and stumble to his feet.

 _Fuck my life._ Jane thought dimly through the pain induced fog clouding her mind.

"Hey Janey?"

Half opening her eyes, Jane fought to see past the somersaults the world seemed to be doing. "I'm going to fucking _kill_ you." She muttered, struggling to her feet only to slump back to the ground, cursing her pounding head as she did so.

"Is all this blood ours?" Jeff was looking around her in worry, picking at his thoroughly bloodsoaked hoodie as he did so.

"Don't change the subject." She glared daggers at him, unable to move her body as he picked his way around stray bits of human that littered the ground.

"I'm pretty sure this is more important." Jeff pointed out. Carefully, Jeff bent down before her and gently grabbed her by the shoulder. "Something's not right."

Unwilling to listen, Jane used whatever energy that was left in her and pushed him away roughly. "Don't touch me motherfucker." She hissed at him with a death glare.

"Listen Sunshine, your head is bleeding." Jeff stated evenly. "In fact, while we're on the subject, this entire forest seems to be bleeding."

Jane ignored his words and slashed her knife in his direction, missing him entirely. "I hate you." She hissed, standing up once more and this time managing to stay that way.

"Oh, so you were serious!" Jeff theatrically pondered this development for a second before asking, "And just to clarify, this isn't one of those moments where later we have hate sex?"

Jane clenched her teeth but instead of proceeding by yelling at him, she closed her eyes and breathed in slowly. "Oh Jeff~! Do you hear that?"

Letting his guard down slightly, Jeff curiously asked, "Hear what?'

"You know, the sound of something breaking." Jane insisted, forcing a grin onto her face.

Voice touched with skepticism, Jeff asked in an unamused deadpan, "Um, what's breaking?"

"Our relationship!" Jane yelled, pushing past the pain in her head as she marched resolutely towards the spot she could enter the cabin's dimension through. Even though the realization that she had just broken up with Jeff hurt, she refused to turn her head, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of her looking back.

"Oh I get it!" A voice from above them suddenly announced happily, chuckling for a moment before falling silent.

Both killers froze and glanced around, instantly suspicious.

"The hell?" Jeff muttered in confusion. "Who was that?"

Deciding she really didn't have the energy nor the desire care, Jane pressed on, determined to not let disembodied voices get in her way. "Tell your pointy-eared fuck buddy that I'm not in the mood for your childish games." She then sharply pointed towards his face. "And as God as my witness, if _anyone_ takes another sex tape of me, killing you would be a mercy. You'll wake up the next day, breathing through a tube."

"That's not Ben." Jeff mumbled, hurrying to catch up to Jane, still scanning his surroundings for the source of the voice.

"A tube!" Jane exclaimed sharply. "So leave me alone!"

"Not a chance Princess." Jeff's eyes cut through her like serrated blades. "We're a team, whether we're _together_ or not."

"We're definitely _not_ together." Quickly drawing her knife, she aimed at his shoulder and sliced through his skin, shedding his blood and earning a loud grunt of surprise from the killer. "I'm done with your shit." She growled, ignoring the pain in her skull.

"And I'm done with yours Jane." Jeff spat, seemingly unaffected by the gash in his arm.

"Glad we can agree on something." Jane snorted derisively.

"Then since we're back to despising each other," Jeff reasoned, eyes dangerous. "Let's have a race. If we're not going to kill our target together like a good team, then we'll see who can kill her first. Ready?" He flashing her a wide grin, he bolted for the other dimension, calling out, "Go." before vanishing instantly.

"Oh you cheating fucker." Jane roared, dashing after him with growl.

* * *

 _Emily_

As she let the tears fall freely onto the freshly turned earth, Emily played the events of the last few days over and over in her mind and wished she could change what she'd done. It was pointless she knew, nothing and no one could turn back time but if she could have…

 _Shoulda, coulda, woulda…_

"I should've done something." She muttered bitterly. "Fuck this entire week." But blaming it on the circumstances wasn't right. Emily had _never_ been nice to Catherine, never been nice to _any_ of her friends for that matter. Why they had kept her around this long was beyond her.

 _We're all going to die anyway._ Sophia's offhanded comment drifted through her mind, making her smile bitterly. For all her cruelty, she envied the easy way the short brunette dealt with the situations presented her. Everything, all her wrongful accusations and sadistic tendencies, just rolled off her, leaving her guiltless while Emily caved under the weight of her conscience.

"I'm so sorry Catherine. I never meant for this to happen. I thought I was doing the right things." She whimpered between silent sobs. "I was being such a bitch. I thought I could just wave my hands and prevent anyone else from dying, but I-I..."

Head falling pitifully, hanging limply on a neck that wouldn't hold it any more, Emily wailed, "I couldn't!" Horrible keening sobs disturbed the quiet of the forest, wrending it open repeatedly like the vulture, ripping out the liver of Prometheus.

"I'm not asking for your forgiveness, because sorry won't cut it." She choked on her tears, trying to get the words out before the strength to do so left her. "I just want you to understand that it was never my intention to have you murdered."

Laughing derisively at her own words, Emily muttered, "They always said the road to hell was paved with good intent." Regretting what had happened wouldn't get her anywhere but she couldn't help it. All she wanted was for her friends to still be alive. This time she wouldn't be bitchy and rude, she'd be more open and kind.

She'd try to be a little more like Catherine.

"Get back here you bitch!" The sharp, furious yell shattered Emily's despondent thoughts at once. Shooting to her feet she spun around, looking frantically for the source of crunching leaves and angry words.

"Take a good look asshole, this is the last time you'll be seeing this ass!" Turing in the direction of the clamor, Emily was met with a blood curdling sight. Two white faced, blade wielding people were racing for her. Well, perhaps _for her_ was a bit of a misnomer. They both seemed far too interested in each other to have much time for her.

 _This is not happening_. Froze in fear, she failed in convincing herself. _I had too much to drink. This is not happening._

"Hey look, it's the Asian chick! Remember she's a target, not your sex toy." The male psycho called mockingly, longer stride quickly overtaking the female killer. Backing up in terror, Emily tripped over Catherine's gravestone in her haste to get away. _This is just a hallucination, I'm passed out on the island. Sophia just spiked my drink or something._

"Bastard, stop projecting your sexual perversions onto me. I'm pretty sure you do that enough to Ben to satisfy us all." The black haired girl lashed out at the man, knife just missing his jugular. Leaning back to avoid her deadly swing, he laughed, a rough grating sound.

Taking advantage of their preoccupation with each other, the terrified girl stumbled to her feet, forcing her numb limbs to move as quickly as they could. Noticing Emily's retreat, both killers snapped back to the present. "Jane, if you don't stop fucking around with me, she's going to get away and it'll be your fault!" The male snapped, dancing away from the girl, Jane, and towards Emily.

"Then crawl back to your ditch and let me do my job!" Jane shrieked, dashing after him. "After all, we all know how well _you_ kill people, Jeff. Half the time you can't even do it properly." Even though she felt like she'd gained a million pounds, Emily made herself run, stumbling ahead blindly through trees that were, in her panic, too close together and roots that seemed all too eager to ensnare her.

"The topic of my brother is off the table, shut the fuck up!" Jeff roared.

The sobs that had halted when Emily had first seen the killers returned now as she did indeed trip, twisting her ankle painfully in the process. _I'm going to die_. She realized. _All this guilt over Catherine and now I'm actually paying for my crimes._ Except that sweet plump angel wouldn't have wished this on anyone, no matter how much the whimpering Asian girl deserved it.

"Ooh, and what are you going to do about it? Cry and beg me to embrace you?" Jane mocked in a childish tone, only resulting in Jeff turning on her once more.

"The day I come crawling back to you will be the day the underworld freezes over!" Still fighting to free herself, Emily watched as Jeff took a few wild swings at Jane before managing to land a cut on her cheek.

"Bastard!" Covering her cheek in horror, Jane gritted her teeth and slashed back with a full strength, tearing through his grimy hoodie and no doubt slicing through skin as well. "You're going to die for this!"

Finally freeing her foot, Emily staggered away, looking at the cabin just ahead, fearing it was still too far away. Thankfully, Jane and Jeff seemed too caught up fighting with each other to care about her.

Or so she'd thought.

"You know what, you be immature like that Jane, I'm going to kill Emily before she gets away." A wave of lightheadedness washed over her at those words. _They know who I am. Ellie was right, this is a game._

Foot sending bolts of white hot agony through her with every step, Emily threw herself at the front door, pounding on it when she found it locked. "Sophia!" She screamed. "Help! Somebody please open the door!"

Wiping her head around to look at the fast approaching killer, Emily continued to hammer on the door, praying that Sophia wasn't too drunk to comprehend her calls for help.

"You know, you could have just stayed still." Jeff complained. "That way, this would've been over quickly. But you just had to scream and run away like a bitch."

With their proximity shortening, Emily realized what she had thought was paint or something was actually twin cuts in the man's cheeks, effectively, if not neatly giving him a permanent grin. _He's a monster._ She thought as another pitiful whimper broke through her lips. _Their all monsters._

Suddenly, the door she'd been pressed up against vanished and she fell backwards, a scream tearing itself from her mouth as her skull connected with the hard floor. Her rescuer, Ellie as it turned out, roughly kicked her out of the way before slamming the door in the face of the white faced killer. Shoving her shoulder into the door, she turned the deadbolt before breathing.

"What the fuck were you thinking? Do you think I want killers outside this cabin?" Ellie roared in rightful anger. Turning to Sophia she ordered, "Go lock the back door. I'll take care of _this_ one."

"Some leader you turned out to be." Sophia muttered to Emily with a smirk before taking quick measured steps in the direction of the other door.

Watching wordlessly as the Asian girl dragged herself upright, Ellie sighed and hollered, "Hey! Spectra, Bean, get your asses over here right now!" The frantic echoing of feet thumping on hardwood solidified into the concerned and scared faces of Emily's other two friends.

"What's all the fuss is about?" Spectra nervously questioned, digging fingers through her blue mane as if getting ready to pull it out.

"If you must know blue," Sophia's voice was heard as she walked into the room. "Our _fearless_ leader here almost let the killer into the cabin. Shame you missed it, it was a truly _grand_ affair."

"T-the guy with the b-blue mask?" Spectra swallowed with a shaky tone.

"No, he wasn't with them." Emily replied, terror still lacing her words. "There was a girl and a guy. But not the one you described." She ignored Ellie's self satisfied smirk that the tall girl shot Sophia, hatting that all her friend cared about was the fact that this proved her multiple killer's theory right.

"Back up, there were two of them?" Bean asked, a frantic look entering her blue eyes.

"That makes it three now." Sophia smirked with amusement. "I knew you were hated Em, but you must feel special now. They sent two for you and only one for blue." Glancing at her nails she mused, "Must not think a mouse like her is with the trouble."

"At least we know two of the next victims." Ellie pointed out.

"What?!" Spectra bursted out with wide eyes. "But we escaped. If it's really a game like you said, should Emily and I be safe?"

"Gee Spectra, I don't know. I must've missed the meeting with the killers when they were discussing the rules." Ellie sarcastically responded.

"What, do you want to bet the table was round?" Sophia asked with a smirk.

Ellie shrugged. "Five bucks. The table was probably an oval or some shit."

"Would you two stop fucking around and listen?" Emily yelled, enraged at their antics.

A sudden chill fell over the five girls as Ellie turned to Emily and regarded her coolly. "I'm sorry Em, but you aren't exactly in charge anymore." Flicking some hair from her eyes, the tall girl grinned. "I'm afraid you've been deposed. Consider this an opportunity to step down with dignity."

"Are you kidding me?" Emily growled, rolling her eyes even though she knew they weren't kidding. After this, she wasn't exactly cut out to be leader. "There are two _killers_ on the porch right now and you're worried about who's the fucking leader?"

Knocking at the door proved her point at once. When no one moved, Emily stepped forward and peered through the spy. From the other side of the door, Jeff grinned at her. Seeming to know she was watching he lifted a thumb and drew it across his neck, raising his eyebrows slightly before mouthing, "You're all dead." After that, he turned around and just walked away.

She didn't doubt him for a second.

* * *

 _Spectra_

Staring straight ahead down the dim hallway, Spectra waited impatiently, unable to quite stand still as she anticipated the upcoming fight because there _would_ be a fight. After everything her blue eyed friend had insisted on keeping hidden from the other girls, she wasn't about to let Bean off the hook. Either the madness ended here, or their friendship ended here.

Okay, maybe that was a tad bit extreme but Spectra wasn't sure what else this situation was if not extreme. Usually, she wouldn't have minded Bean keeping secrets but usually the secrets she kept weren't the type to get people killed. Spectra had tried to talk some sense into the rust blond girl but it hadn't worked. This was her only remaining course of action.

As the object of her worries turned into veiw, the blue-haired girl crossed her arms, defiant. Resolutely drawing in a deep breath, Spectra set her face and, in a tone devoid of as much emotion as she could drain from it, informed her friend, "Bean, we need to talk."

"Look, Spec, I'm tired, you're tired, can we just not do this right now?" She begged, even though judging by her expression, Bean knew she wasn't going to get off that easily.

"No, we can't." Spectra replied, forcing her voice to remain even when all she really wanted to do was yell at her friend. "Time is really short these days. We need to make every moment count." Without consciously doing it, Spectra's eyes ghosted out past Bean's shoulder and to the bright living room.

With no strength in disobey her friend's request, Bean let out a sigh and wearily nodded even while the tiredness in her eyes hardened. "If it's about him, I told you already, I'm not going to-"

"It's not about that, it's something else." Spectra took a deep breath, knowing what she was about to ask wasn't going to go over well. "I want you to do something for me, I want you to tell the rest about the midnight visits." The reaction was not only negative, but instantaneous.

Bean let out a startled yelp before nervously insisting, "S-spectra, you know I can't do that, right? I should never have told you in the-"

Spectra cut off her frightened words, hoping her friend would listen to reason this time. "It's okay. I'll be by your side the whole time. Tell them that _it_ kidnapped you but you escaped. That excuse seems to work rather lately." Spectra assured her with a wry, bitter smile.

Bean took a few moments to think it over before simply replying, "No."

Disbelief dripped from Spectra's words as she fiercely countered, "Bean, you need to listen to me-"

"No _you_ need to listen to me." Bean shot back, exhaustion heavy on her tone. "I'm sick of having the same argument over and over again." _Well that makes two of us._

Shifting her arms so one hand rested on a hip, Spectra expressively gestured at her friend as she asked, "Do you hear yourself Bean? I am trying to save the lives of you and the other dimwitted fools out there. Why won't you listen to me for just one moment?" The pale girl couldn't help but be furious. If there was one thing about this entire affair that pissed her off, it was the fact that no one seemed willing to take her seriously. Even her best friend, apparently, had a low enough opinion of her that she wouldn't listen to Spectra's rudimentary logic.

"Because I'm tired, alright." Bean yelled at last. "Emily almost died, and we were about to be next. I don't want to do this now." That made Spectra want to laugh in disbelief. _Because if_ she _doesn't want to do it, the world stops turning_ just _to accommodate her!_

"Why won't you just tell them? You already promised me that you won't go near him again. How hard can it be." Spectra reasoned. Frustrated with Bean's silence, she examined her friend's facial expression. Noticing her constantly shifting eyes anywhere but at her face, and the large visible gulp passing down her throat, Spectra was able to finally put the pieces together. "Unless…"

Bean's eyes grew wide as she watched the dawning realization cross the blue-haired girl's face. "Spectra, please-" She started instantly, a pleading look in her eyes.

"You lying two-faced bitch." Shocked and feeling betrayed, the words came directly from her mind and out of her mouth without hesitation. The outburst might have been uncharacteristic of her, but Spectra couldn't make herself care. All she could think about was how easily her best friend had lied to her.

"It's not like that." Bean insisted desperately. "You just wouldn't drop it!" There was a helplessness in her actions that disgusted Spectra. This girl didn't have the right to act like she'd had no choice.

"You promised me and you lied, right into face." She whispered in agony, familiar distrust seeping into her skin. "My best friend lied to me. I think I have a better chance befriending Sophia. Even if she's a bitch, at least she's honest." The words clearly hurt Bean but Spectra was sick of caring for someone who couldn't be bothered to return the favor.

"Please just listen Spec, I did this for us. We needed to stick together that's why I lied." Her excuses were lost on the distressed girl.

"We? We! There's no more we! From now on, it's just you and your pet monster. And no matter how cruel it is, I pray he tears you limb from limb." Tears began streaming down Bean eyes, but Spectra didn't care, not anymore. From that point on, she only needed to take care of herself. Turning her back on Bean she strode into their bedroom to grab her stuff. All of it was already piled up, ready to be collected and moved.

"Spectra please, just listen!" Bean begged but to no avail, Spectra's decision had been made the moment Bean had refused to tell their friends what was going on.

Tired of her friend's -or rather ex-friend's- constant excuses, Spectra walked towards door without even glancing at her. "It's moments like these when the craziest thoughts make sense. Like right now, I wish I had been killed by that blue-masked man. It would've been less hurtful than to have my only friend lie to and betray me." With a one last judgmental look, she shut the door on her sobbing, former friend.

Holding a hand against her mouth, she stifled her own tears. Letting out a muffled cry of pain, she stumbled into the living room, collapsing on the couch and burying her face in the pile of stuff she'd brought from her room.

"Trouble in paradise, blue?" A snide voice asked from across the room.

Spectra dragged up her messy face and stared into the brown eyes of Sophia. "N-no?"

"Don't bother denying it. I heard the shouting." Sophia stated bluntly. "Whatever did our darling Bean do to incur your wrath?" Tracing the rim of the glass she held in her other hand, the short girl added in a sarcastic simper, "She's such a tender _flower_ after all."

Spectra straightened herself up and tried to wipe away the river of tears that'd been showering face. "What do you what?"

"Whoa, take it easy blue. I'm not _looking_ for a fight." Sashaying over to the distraught girl and sliding herself next to her like a snake, Sophia took careful count of Spectra's appearance. "As your _friend_ I would suggest you stop wailing on the couch. It's the only decent one around."

"What are you talking about?" Spectra asked in nervous confusion.

"Well, I would say I wasn't eavesdropping, but then again, I can't lie to _you._ " Fixing her with a sharp look, Sophia gave her a wide smirk. "What's Bean hiding from the rest of us blue? What is it you so desperately want her to tell us, hmm?"

"It's really none of your business," she grumbled, cleaning her face with the sleeve of her jacket.

"Is that so?" Leaning closer to her face, Sophia tried to read her facial expression. "You know, I've never really much liked you Spectra, you never did show any facial expressions, even back in highschool. Makes it nearly impossible to read you."

Spectra flinched slightly but didn't respond, unwilling to give the short girl anything.

"Come on blue, won't you cut your _friend_ some slack." Sophia muttered dangerously. "Because of all the people here, I'm the only one who knows _you_."

 _I doubt you know as much as you think you do._ Spectra thought as the tendons in her wrists tightened, hands clenching into fists. "All you've ever done is accuse and insult me, even before this miserable _vacation._ "

Sophia feigned offence. "Not fair, I've _always_ had your best interest at heart _blue._ I'd only be saving you from yourself after all."

"I don't care. You're the cruelest person here, and considering what I've been through, that's saying a lot."

Leaning in close, Sophia delicately hissed into the purple-eyed girl's ear, "But I never lied to you, now _did_ I?"

Instantly jumping back, Spectra put as much distance between herself and the shorter girl as the couch allowed, ready for anything suspicious. "Stay away you creep."

Grinning, the short girl lightly commented, "Do us all a favor and don't sleep in here. After all, look what happened to the _last_ girl who did." Getting to her feet, Sophia stretched and walked back to the island, probably to find more to eat.

"And where am I _supposed_ to sleep?" Spectra asked incredulously, frustrated with the snide brunettes antics.

"You're asking me, the _creep_?" Sophia snorted before grabbing a stool to stand on while she rummaged through the cabinets. " But if you really want my opinion, Tay's room is available. Who knows, they say lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place."

Seriously considering the idea, Spectra shot to her feet and announced, "You know what," Gazing at her with deadly stare she continued,"Maybe I will!"

"Have fun blue," Sophia twiddled her fingers at her teasingly. "Don't worry, we cleaned up the blood."

Ignoring her, Spectra traipsed up to the abandoned bedroom, forcing herself to breath normally as she did so. It didn't really bother her to be sleeping in a room so steeped in death, after all, wasn't this the entire house's condition?

Dropping her stuff haphazardly by the door Spectra staggered forward before collapsing on what was once Mackenzie's bed. As soft warmth enveloped her, down comforter rising up to encase her in its folds, the tired girl closed her eyes at last.

Raising her head wearily off the sheets, she took out her cell phone and dialed the same number she's been calling for the past few days. She pressed the call button, and just as she expected, the line was cut. Gritting her teeth desperately, she lifted her hand and violently threw the phone against the wall, not caring when the screen cracked down the middle.

 _Is there no end to this nightmare?_

 **A/N ….**

 **IDG: Well, this is awkward. So, we hope you enjoyed this chapter and-**

 **Q: *Struggling violently from behind him* MMmph!**

 **IDG: Hey, shut it and start taking your medication!**

 **Q: *Muffled swearing***

 **IDG: So until Q learns how to behave like a proper woman, we'll see you in the next chapter!**


	16. The Dangers of Flight

**A/N :*Glares expectantly at IDG***

 **IDG: *Sighs annoyingly* If I take off the gag, you promise not to say anything regarding spoiler?**

 **Q: *nods***

 **IDG: Alright. *Removes the gag***

 **Q: *coughs for a moment* So, to EpicFial11, I'm so glad you love this story and I hope the suggestions gave you some good stories to read. GotoSleepLove is personally one of my favorite writers.**

 **IDG: What about me?**

 **Q: *ignores him* Anyway, on to the story. Enjoy!**

 _Sally_

 _Finally, a chance to not be filler!_ Looking expectantly over the edge of her tiny flowery clipboard, Sally cleared her throat and neatly addressed the two killers before her. "Do either of you want to talk about why you're here?" From behind her, Ben sniggered but she ignored him pointedly, like all the other onlookers who were gathered there only for plot convenience.

After a few moments of silence, the little girl groaned and softly wondered aloud, "Why again am I doing this? Seriously, I'm like seven."

Despise being the youngest in the mansion, Sally was one of the most brilliant and brightest in the big family. If anyone could help the two killers, it would be her. Sally sighed and muttered, "I really hate you author."

Both Jane and Jeff turned towards her as one, glaring at her with the same deadly intensity. Not one to back down, Sally straightened and met their glare head on with one of her own omnipotent stares.

At once they both shifted uncomfortably and looked away.

"I don't understand why I'm being made to spend _any_ time around this bitch after what happened." Jeff muttered, arms crossed, deliberately facing away from his former girlfriend.

"Sally, would you be a dear and tell this asshole that I'm not planning to _fix_ our relationship." Jane asked sweetly.

"Well Sally, you tell the whore that right now, she means less to me than a-"

"THIS ISN'T GETTING ANYWHERE!" Sally roared, effectively silencing the pair of them. "Honestly, you two are behaving like children and that's coming from _me_." Shuffling her papers once more, she sighed and pushed her non-existent glasses up her nose. "Now, I need you to tell me what happened."

"She started it!"

"He started it!"

Ben leaned over her shoulder and grinned. "Looks like paradise just erupted. Sal, even someone with your abilities can't deal with this."

"Shut it asshole!" Jane shot a death glare at Ben. "I'm still not through with you yet!"

"Well Sally, I got to go. I think I left the stove on." Ben voice cracked a tad with fear.

"Oh no, the script's telling me you're supposed to stay _right_ where you are." Pointing down at a specific line on the clipboard she held, Sally glared back up at him, fire in her eyes. It was a look of one not willing to take any more shit.

"Yeah, but the chicken might burn out, so…" Sally grabbed the edge of his tunic before he could escape, effectively stopping the boy for good. "Fine fine, I'll stay." He muttered nervously. "And is that really the _plot_?"

"Yes!" Sally felt relieved that _someone_ was finally beginning to understand what she went through on a daily basis. "If you want you can-"

"I'm sure _this_ bitch knows a thing or two about _plots_." Jeff taunted while keeping his distances.

"Oh, tell me about it." Leaning forward with instant interest, Sally took her sparkly pink pen and followed along with the script to keep her place with what she knew was coming.

"Don't you dare asshole! She's still too young!" Jane threatened wildly, reaching for a knife that EJ had failed to confiscate before the 'couples counselling' had begun.

"Wasn't gonna bitch. Not everything is as dirty as you think it is." Jeff growled back, eyes ablaze as he faced Jane for the first time since the session had begun. "But if you want to go into your sex life I'm sure _Ben_ would be more than happy to take over."

"Hey man, leave me out of this. I'm not looking for a repeat of last time, seriously." Ben fearfully interjected.

Sticking her tongue between her teeth, Sally murmured, "So, it says here that Jane is going to tell me what really happened so why don't we cut to the chase. Is there something you'd like to say?" Glancing back up at her much older friend, Sally waited patiently for several seconds before muttering, "Nevermind, guess I missed something. Where was I…"

"Why don't you two start with what happened a few nights ago?" Clockwork suggested from her plot convenient perch in the corner. Looking up from her nails she shrugged lazily and added, "I could tell you were upset the moment I talked to you."

"I don't want to talk about this." Jane mumbled tersely, crossing her arms and hiding behind a wall of black silky hair.

"C'mon Tootsie! How else are you and Jeffy gonna make nice?" LJ asked from the other side of the room.

Turning sharply in her seat, Sally furiously spat, "You aren't in the script, get out!"

"So, that doesn't mean we can't come in." Toby said with glee, walking in at that very moment and delightedly sitting beside Clockwork who instantly relaxed against him.

"Oh yeah, why not invite Slenderman while we're at it?" Sally asked bitterly.

"Did I hear my name?" The aforementioned tall, faceless man leaned in, curiousity hanging about him.

"I was being sarcastic!" Sally desperately threw her small arms in the air. "And thus, my only chance at having a real part is ruined by my family. Thanks for nothing you shitty authors." She muttered at last, crossing off the apparently scrapped dialogue with her glittery pink pen and sighing.

EJ, apparently hearing her words, sighed sympathetically and asked calmly, "Would you like us to leave?"

"Yes, god yes!" Sally turned to look at him and shot him an exasperated expression she knew he couldn't see. "I'm trying to do something serious. The readers are worried about this conflict and they need resolution. How am I suposed to do jackshit if you idiots keep messing with my script!" Her speech ended in a yell.

"Whoa…" Toby looked a little nervous. "You know, I think I'll leave. Come on Clocky, let's do something _fun_." He raised his eyebrows as he finished his sentence.

"Ugh, TMI you two…" Sally mumbled, letting her head fall into her hands in exhaustion.

"Sorry for irritating ya lollypop." LJ apologized sheepishly, giving her a piece of candy as a peace offering. "I've got stuff to do anyway tonight so I'll leave."

"I will as well." Slenderman announced graciously. "Although I ought to be washing your mouth out with soap young Sally." With that ominous warning he made his leave.

"Well I did bring it up…" EJ trailed off awkwardly, before turning. "Good luck getting these two to cooperate."

"Hey, that chicken is still in the oven so…" Ben hopefully got to his feet and started towards the kitchen

"Ben. Sit." Sally deadpanned with a grim tone.

"Yes, ma'am." Ben quickly responded and sat on the spot, thinly veiled fear in his movements.

"Good, now," She resolutely looked at the two killers. "Jane?"

"He pissed me off alright!" She burst out, a distressed look on her face. "He never seems to care about me at all, all he does is trample me." There were tears forming in the corners of her wide black eyes that made Sally want to roll her own green ones. _Ugh, this is so cliched..._

"You lying bit-!"

"Jeff! Wait for you turn." Sally butted in quickly, each word another ounce of venom she injected into the unruly killer. When she was sure he was under control, the little girl turned back to Jane.

"It's just, he didn't care!" She wailed loudly. "He's supposed to be the one who cares about me but the fucker is too concerned with the damn _rules_ to worry about his own _girlfriend."_

"That's a load of-!"

"Jeff!" Sally cut him off yet again, this time, giving him a death glare. "For the love of all that is evil, let your girlfriend speak."

"She's not my girlfriend!" He burst out, rage painted on his features.

"I am not going to repeat myself!" Sally roared, looking down at the script quickly, hoping that his interruptions were drawing to a close. "Wait. For. Your turn."

"He's right though." Jane muttered, sniffling slightly as she did so. Straightening in her seat, the upset killer clearly stated, "We aren't together anymore. I _broke up_ with him."

"Just lovely." Ben muttered from beside Sally. "Like we need any more emotional drama going on in this house."

"They _are_ the emotional drama in this house." Sally murmured back, pleased that at least one person seemed to be following along.

"And seeing how it won't affect any of your daily lives, why do want to help us?" Jeff wondered curiously.

"One, because you two fighting _does_ affect us and two, because that's what I'm supposed to do. It's in the-"

"It's in the script." Jeff and Jane finished her sentence in union.

"What is that even suppose to mean? Where not some pawns in a story or something." Jane exclaimed in irritation.

"Actually," Sally flipped some of her pages around and held out a picture of Slenderman in a dark forest that didn't look remotely like the one the killers currently inhabited. "You are. Deal with it."

"Listen, Sally, don't you think you're a little too insane to be giving out viable mental advice?" Jeff asked slowly, nervous despite being the oldest one present.

"Look, we get it. You're young, curious and with a wild imagination. But that doesn't mean you should invade other's life looking for answers about the universe." Jane explained while fixing her with a smile.

"This isn't the universe, this is an unrelated event that happens somewhere in the- Oh just forget it!" Sally glared at Jeff. "A much better use of our time would be _you_ telling me what is going on between you and Jane. I sure we still have a couple of minutes before we cut to the next perspective."

Jeff sighed as though trying to reconcile the strangeness of Sally with what was truly going on. "I'm just trying to protect Jane. I don't want something happening to her."

"Bullshit! Tell why you two- Wait really? So you're going to explain without drifting to another pointless argument" Sally asked, confused.

"Yeah?" Jeff gave Sally yet another strange look which Sally blew off easily. "I know that sunshine over there thinks I'm a cruel heartless bastard but I have her best interests at heart."

Sally chuckled with relief and adjusted her position. "All right, now we're getting somewhere. Why don't you start from the beginning?" She offered, finally ready to get some work done.

"Jeff, don't bullshit us," Jane cut in furious. "You only care about whatever you want, you don't give a damn about me!"

"Oh sure! And it was the fairy godmother who almost died trying to save your sorry ass." Jeff shot back sarcastically.

"You hate me!" Jane's words whipped across the room, anger in every syllable.

"What the hell are you talking about?" The furious male asked from across the couch. "I love you! I swear, sometimes you act like a fucking child, pull yourself together."

Hesitated in finding a comeback, Jane stuttered unintelligibly. "W-well, I-if I'm a child, then you know what that makes you, a pedophile!"

"Was… was that suppose to be a burn?" Ben wondered in confusion. "That was… kindergarden weak."

"Can we all just try and act professional here?" Sally begged, feeling her grasp of the situation loosening quickly.

Jane shot to her feet and faced Jeff. "I'll act professional when he stops telling me he has my best interests at heart when he clearly doesn't!"

"I don't have your best interest? Jane, have you ever stopped and think of all the crazy things you do that I put up with? By rights you should have died a thousand times over." Jeff looked equally wild as he rose off his seat and took a menacing step forward.

"Until you take that stick out of your ass, we're _done_!" Screamed Jane before storming from the room, slamming the front door behind her.

"Well _that_ could have gone better." breathed Ben through his teeth.

"Not now Ben." Jeff deadpanned, glaring at him.

Turning to the audience, Sally softly whispered, "Plot advancement." before the scene cut out.

* * *

 _Bean_

 _It had to be done,_ her mind reminded her weakly. _She wasn't going to leave you alone otherwise. The hurt was only going to be worse the longer this was drawn out._ And yet she couldn't help but wonder if it could have gone another way. Spectra was her best, and sometimes _only_ , friend. Was a faceless monster named Slenderman that occasionally made her feel better while at the same time bringing to light all the reasons she hated herself really worth it?

 _Yes, yes it is. All your friends are going to die if you don't._ Bean's dry, heaving sobs quieted as she questioned herself. _Is that_ really _my motive?_ She wished she could believe it was but she knew better. If she truly cared she'd tell everyone what she knew rather than keep it to herself.

 _But if you tell them now, they'll tear you apart._ Groaning softly she let her head fall to her hands as she squeezed her eyes tightly. There really wasn't a feasible way to get out of the hole she'd dug herself at this point. Her only real hope was digging so deep she came out the other end, hopefully alive. Muttering softly, Bean pushed to her feet and straightened her shoulders.

She'd earn Spectra's trust again. Maybe it would take more than just a few words but she would do it eventually. After all, she'd rather spend her last few days with her best friend than alone.

Walking to the mirror hanging on the door, the red faced girl ran a hand through her matted hair and sighed. As she combed out the worst of the tangles and wiped hopelessly at her tearstained face, Bean let her mind drift to other matters. Namely, would Slenderman make another appearance tonight?

So far, he'd been nothing short of punctual but after invading her mind last night, he might be disgusted by her and decide to kill her instead. Worse, though she wasn't sure how it was, he might _pity_ her and chose to leave her alone. _At least I'd survive,_ she thought numbly. _That's more than I can say for the rest of the girls in this house._ It was a selfish hope, but what made it absolutely abhorrent was that it was true.

Shaking her now tangle free hair, wishing momentarily it would fall into place like Emily's always perfect hair so it wouldn't look like she'd just rolled out of bed, Bean shrugged helplessly at her own reflection before opening the door to the hallway, wondering if Sophia was still where she'd been previously, drinking what had smelled like hard liquor.

As she stepped into the dim living room, she was equal parts glad, and apprehensive to see the short girl. Noticing her presence, the brunette looked up and her lips curled up, malice in her eyes.

"Well if it isn't the second half of the recently destroyed _unbreakable_ bond." Sophia lifted her glass in a mock toast, taking a sip of the foul smelling drink after, never breaking eye contact with the other girl. "Such a shame you know, here I was thinking you two would turn out like Catherine and Tay Tay. Oh well, I guess you can't top poetry in motion."

"That's not funny Sophia." Bean deadpanned in an irritated tone, failing at covering her anger at the mockery in the other girl's voice.

"Whatever. It's not like they're going to come back to life and lecture me. The dead stay dead." Sophia scoffed before taking

Beans mouth hung open in disbelief for a moment before shaking her head forcefully and sedately walking to the bar. "Why are you still down here Sophia?" She asked at last, exhaustively plunking down on a bar stool.

Sophia took a sip before locking her eyes with Bean's "Waiting for you."

Bean's eyes quickly widened, "M-me? Why?"

"Because I've already played therapist for two people tonight. I'm on a roll." Sophia explained, a raised eyebrow the only sign she might have been joking. "Besides, do you expect me to believe that you and blue suddenly decided to fight and break it off because she left her dirty laundry on the floor or something? I smell bullshit."

"It's none of your business." Bean shot at Sophia furiously before folding her arms. "What happens between Spectra and I is between us alone."

"The you should've thought about it before arguing in the open like two old couple on the verge of a midlife crisis." Sophia commented with smirk. "Now, I helped miss squinty eyes and blue, so why don't you take a seat and tell me about your problem Beanie."

"I don't want to talk about it with anyone, and especially not with the likes of you." Bean spat, eyes narrowed.

"Ouch Bean, that hurt." Sophia muttered dryly. "Is it because I'm short? _Size_ isn't everything you know?"

Getting tired of her drifting and turning the argument, Bean gritted her teeth and shot back, "Listen to me Soph, I don't know what your angle is, and frankly I don't care, I'm done."

"My angle is a little over ninety degrees." Sophia clicked her tongue and added, "Guess you wouldn't mind if I tell the rest about your little secret."

At once, Bean's heart sank. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh yeah?" Sophia challenged with a raised eyebrow. "Because I talked with with Spectra and she didn't mind telling me about it. Guess you should've appreciated your only friend more."

"You're lying. Spectra told you nothing." Bean whispered, terror slowly setting in. _No, Spectra would never… would she?_

"Didn't she? Why don't you go and ask her. Oh right? You can't little miss secret." Sophia hissed, eyes alight with excitement. "It would _make my day_ to go upstairs and tell Ellie _everything._ "

"You can't tell the rest, please!" Bean begged, forgoing the chance that Sophia was bluffing in favor of panic. "They'll never forgive me."

"We'll see. Now, why don't you sit down and let your _therapist_ Sophia know what's been troubling you." Sophia gestured towards the chair opposite her with a grin.

"What's the point?" She mumbled, empty. "You already know it."

"Bean, Bean, Bean, you can't have cause without an effect. We know your problem, now we need to find a way to study its effects and how to solve it." Sadly, Sophia's offer was a good one. The chance to bounce her traitorous thoughts off a neutral third party too tempting to pass up.

Knowing that it was either this, or the rest of the girls ganging up on her, Bean laid out her options. "At first I thought I was hallucinating, but after Taylor's death I found myself sneaking out almost every night."

"And you thought that would fix things? Or was it under the misguided belief you could handle it on your own." Sophia asked gently, voice tempering the intense curiosity in her eyes.

"No, not at the beginning. But after the first few times, I did it to escape the crazy things that've been happening in this hellhole. Even though striking a deal was stupidly selfish, I thought I might save my own skin."

"Ah, the devil's greatest weapon, the power of the deal." Sophia acknowledged her metaphor. "What about your friend Spectra? Was she happy at first when she found out about your selfish attempt."

"No, but she said she'd put up with it. I ended up throwing her under the bus." Bean let the weight of what she'd done sink in. Even after everything, she still had hurt Spectra. She was the worst kind of person there was. A traitor.

"Sweetie, you didn't just throw her under the bus. You reversed it and ran over her several more times." Sophia pointed out, in a sarcastic yet calm tone. "I might be a terrible person, but I'm really disappointed in finding out that I rank below you now."

Hot tears started rolling down from her blue eyes. Her body was shaking the wooden stool she'd been occupying. "Can I ever fix what I've done?"

"Well, I can't say it looks good for you but you might want to rethink your deal with the devil of this equation." Taking a sip of her drink, Sophia looked away from the distraught girl and added, "It's all give and take, if you're going to do something to hurt her, you need to give her something to counter it."

"And that's going to fix it?" Bean asked softly.

"Honey, you can't heal a burn with a few little kisses, but at least you won't cause any more scars." Sophia shrugged. "Just think on it. And get out of here. I was trying to drink myself into a stupor. Everyone seems to be against my plans today."

"About my secret, are you going to keep it like you promised?"

"Trust me, if I actually knew a juicy secret that delicious, not a soul _wouldn't_ have known about it by now. But thanks for the new information, I'll be sure to keep it _safe_." Giving her a wink, Sophia broke down into laughter.

"You mean you were…" She groped for the right word. "Manipulating me?"

Letting her laughter die down into giggles, Sophia casually answered, "It's called life Bean, or at least what's left of it."

Absolutely furious, Bean shot to her feet and stormed from the room. Sophia be damned, she'd solve her own problems and never trust a soul again. _That'll show me not to tell anyone anything ever again._

Except it wasn't the first time she'd been burned. She'd lost at this game before. Sucking in a breath, Bean slammed the door behind and glued her back against it before dropping to the ground with nothing but her heavy breathing echoing in the silence. Taking a peak before her, Bean realized the damage she caused upon seeing the empty bed in front of her wasn't going away, no matter how far she ran.

Unbidden a distant memory claimed her mind.

 _Running, she was running and she knew what would happen if she was caught. She'd screwed up and she knew it. Letting her control slip like that was the worst possible thing she could have done. Now she was going to pay the price._

 _Ahead, the regal stained glass windows of the church they lived near rose above her head. Bean glanced behind her in terror and wondered if she might be able to hide there for a time. Probably a deacon would take one look at the wings that fluttered behind her and kick her out, screaming 'devil spawn' but she'd have to take her chances. It wasn't like she had a choice. It was either face the unknown or face her father's wrath._

 _There wasn't really a choice._

 _As she barreled in through the churches open doors, the terrified girl looked for a hiding place, knowing her father wouldn't be stopped by the grand building for long. Slowing her pace to a more sedated and pious walk, Bean crept into the sanctuary, thankful she was alone for now. Flattening her hands over her fuzzy ears, she tiptoed down the center aisle._

 _Glancing up at the looming crucifix on the wall above the altar, Bean found herself smiling slightly. The sight was comforting in a way. Letting her gaze fall, the small girl looked to either side, still needing a good hiding place and fast. Seeing a small box like structure off to the side of the enormous room, she scampered over to it, flung open the door of the petitioner's side of the thing and threw herself inside, grateful beyond measure for the temporary hiding spot._

 _Or at least she was until the deep baritone of her father echoed through the church. "I know you're hiding in here you little rat!" He hollered. "I'm going to find you and skin you alive!" Bean could feel her very bones trembling at the sound._

" _Sir, may I ask why you are intruding upon the house of the Lord?" A soft soothing voice interrupted her father, it's addition only making Bean shake harder. "And such language is a sin especially in a sacred place such as this." Squeezing her eyes shut, Bean willed her father to leave and not cause any more trouble than he already had._

" _Out of my way preacher. I'm looking for a little runaway brat." Her father growled, words filled with rage._

" _I know no knowledge of any runaways. It's just me and the Lord here." The priest protested in a calm tone. "And, if what you're speaking is the truth, then God as my witness, I would not be telling you of her whereabouts." The lilt of the man's voice held a touch of amusement, even though Bean couldn't see what was so funny about it._

" _Listen to me here old timer." The father spat. "She's my responsibility, not yours."_

" _But aren't we all children of God? I suggest you leave his place before God rains his mighty wrath down upon you." Bean held her breath as she realized what was happening. She was being_ protected _by someone who didn't even know she was here._

 _Cursing inaudibly, the father turned around and yelled, "When I find you, I'll break you legs once and for all!" After that, he walked out of the building._

 _Letting out a sigh, Bean pulled her legs in tighter and waited for the priest to leave as well so she could escape. The longer she stayed still, the more her exhaustion tugged at her bones, almost lulling her to sleep right there._ Maybe if I stay here a bit, _she thought sleepily_. He won't hurt me as much because he'll have calmed down…

 _The sound of a door opening at someone sitting down snapped Bean out of her stupor with an unpleasant jolt. Fear returning, though not to the same extent, the girl brought her head up and waited, unsure of what to expect._

" _I thought I heard someone running by. The Lord led me down to the sanctuary and it's a good thing he did. Never did I expect to witness something like that." The priest's gentle chuckles soothed Bean slightly. "I can see you have a lot on your plate my dear."_

 _Siffling slightly, Bean mumbled, "Yeah."_

" _You do know you can come to the Lord with anything and he will think no less of you. Confess and he shall forgive you. Believe and ye shall be saved." A warmth fell over Bean at his words. She wanted to lose herself in the hope the man seemed to be offering her._

" _God will always love you, no matter what the rest of the world thinks. He's the most merciful being in existence."_

 _Letting her eyelids droop closed, Bean leaned against the wall of the confessional and murmured, "If God loves me, why did he create me in the first place?"_

" _To glorify him and enjoy him forever." The priest answered simply, a smile in his words. "How could you ask such a question my child. Even though your earthly father treats you in such a horrid way, your heavenly father has a plan for your life."_

" _But why would he let my father hurt me?" Bean pleaded, needing an answer._

" _Sometimes the Lord places obstacles in our way to test us. Rest assured though, he never tries us beyond what we can bear with his help." The priest paused for a moment. "The church may be able to help you my dear. If you have proof of his cruelty we might be able to take you in legally. Is that something that might appeal to you?"_

" _Yes." Bean said at once, knowing she had a great number of vicious bruises that could prove her claim. "I'd love it if you'd take me in. I don't know if I can survive my father for much longer."_

" _If you step out of the confessional, you could show me the evidence, unless of course, you'd rather have one of the nuns here look at them. I would hate to make you feel uncomfortable." Nodding though the priest couldn't see her, Bean got to her feet and opened the confessional door, eager to finally end the torture she'd been putting up with for years._

" _I'm ready sir." She stood there waiting, not bothering to cover her ears or tail. The priest would understand. After all, hadn't he said God loved her no matter what?_

 _The elderly man stepped from the confessional and turned to face her. At once the sympathetic smile he'd been wearing melted into a terrified expression. Backing away from her in horror, the now shaking man made the sign of the cross on his chest and fumbled for the crucifix at his neck. "A-angel, devil, what are you child?"_

 _Bean stumbled back, whimpering and wordlessly shaking her head as her hopes were shattered. Of course, he'd act like all the others. She wasn't special, she was a freak of nature and she never should have trusted that he cared about her at all._

" _In the name of God, I order you to leave this establishment!" The trembling man ordered, fear in his eyes._

 _Without another word, Bean fled, tears streaming down her cheek._

Letting the unpleasant memory fade, Bean looked up to find a now familiar blank, white head staring at her through her window. Unbidden, a smile touched her face as she got to her feet. Another long night no doubt but for the first time since these visits had started, she didn't really care.

* * *

 _Slenderman_

Drawing several deep breaths, struggling to recover from the flashback he had just witnessed -without permission but really, did that matter?- Slenderman spent a moment just staring at the surprisingly calm Bean, who watched him with a small smile on her face, before recalling his original purpose for showing up.

 _Ah yes…_

Without worrying whether Bean cared what he did or not, Slenderman teleported into the girl's room only to grab her and vanish once more, pulling her along. Slenderman had been thinking about this moment for the greater portion of the day, unsure of how best to approach the matter but knowing what was about to happen needed to. Hoodie had made a good point of sorts. If he was to continue in this odd and potentially problematic friendship with this girl, there were some things they would need to address.

Namely, her apparent inability to fly.

Re-appearing on the roof of the cabin, Slenderman released the surprised Bean and stepped away, settling himself on the chimney, completely at ease. When the girl made no move to speak to him, Slenderman softly hissed, "I am afraid I witnessed some more of your past. I hope you are not too upset."

"You again?" The soft smile she had been wearing faded as she crossed her arms tiredly and sighed. "I thought I made it clear that I didn't want to see you anymore." Bean muttered with no real fire behind her words. "And did you have to read my thoughts? It's kinda rude you know."

"Indeed you have and indeed it is." Slenderman acknowledged graciously. "But if you did not wish for me to reappear, then why would you lie to your friend about meeting me?"

"How long have you been watching me you creep?" Again, her words were menacing but they held little anger. She seemed too weary to put any force into her words.

"Language. And to answer your question, in my spare time. It _is_ my job after all." Slenderman would have smiled if he had possessed the inclination. The look on her face was golden to be sure.

Not even bothering to protest, Bean simply dropped to a crouching position and rested her chin on her knees. "Because of you, I lost the only friend I have." She muttered softly, sadness tainting her tone.

"And what have you gained?" He queried delicately. "What am I to you?"

"Nothing." Bean mumbled in irritation. "You're just… The disaster that ruined my life and killed my friends."

Slenderman could not help but being amused. "It seems you are still, how do you say it, _hung up_ on the idea that _I_ had something to do with the deaths of your friends. It would do you well to listen to your companions Bean." _Although I understand why you would not. Some of them are woefully stupid._

"I _know_ you're involved! Ever since you talked to me that first time, bodies been dropping and we've had to bury the remains of our friends. So how can you tell me you have nothing to do with it?" Bean growled, a series of mixed emotions flashed across her face.

"I only have to do with _your_ death and as _that_ has not yet occurred, I am responsible for naught." Slenderman raised his pure white digits skyward and said, "My hands are clean."

Bean rephrased her question. "But you're related to the deaths?"

"In so much as I am killer and they are killers as well, yes, I am." Slenderman admitted with a soft chuckle.

"Then why are you toying with me and not finishing me off like your friends did!" Bean shot in anger. "Oh wait, _I'm special_ I forgot." Briefly, Slenderman wondered how long she would bring the same point to the table. Even after talking with her for a good while she still seemed fixated on the matter.

Humans, always so predictable...

"You think me rude? Would you prefer it if I killed you right now?" Slenderman asked, genuinely curious.

"It doesn't matter if it's now or next week, I'm dead anyways. I already lost my friend and relived some of the most painful memories I have. Death sounds like a mercy at this point," Bean shot back flippantly. The fire he was so accustomed to seeing in her had returned and Slenderman was glad it had. When she sounded dead, he found it difficult to talk to her.

"And yet you do not wish to die. You yourself have said you felt _selfish_ for wanting to live. I am certain that now, after losing a friend, you will cling to that life all the more firmly." He waited for a moment as Bean looked at her feet, scuffed them, then proceeded to stand up.

"I suppose you're right." She admitted softly. "I don't want to die."

"We make progress." Slenderman purred, quite pleased.

"Why are you here?" Bean asked in irritation. "You've already invaded my mind and we've already argued so what else are we supposed to do?"

Folding his hands before him, Slenderman looked at her steadily and began, "This is something that has been _swirling about_ in my mind lately." When she made no move to ask what, Slenderman finished his sentence. "Your wings."

"Welcome to the club." Bean muttered.

Slenderman ignored her sarcasm with practiced ease. "How did you get them?"

"Does it matter?" She snapped.

Slenderman inclined his head. "At this time, not particularly no."

"Then why are you interested in them?" She asked curiously. "They're just useless _attachments_."

"Creatures such myself tend to have different, ah, _extremities_ than the humans that we have the ability to use. Yours, I must assume, are no different." Slenderman elaborated smoothly. "They are wings that appear to be in proportion to your body."

"Which means?" She prompted, waving her hands impatiently for him to continue.

"It means my dear," Slenderman rumbled, amusement hanging in the air around the pair of them. "That you _should_ possess the ability to fly."

The words ghosted between them, almost frozen as the irritated girl struggled to process them. Of course, Slenderman had expected such a reaction, after all, Bean seemed _very_ convinced she wanted to be human, but he knew the desire was one that could be overcome with time. If she was to survive, it had to be.

"What?" Bean asked at last, looking at Slenderman as if he had spoken in a foreign language. Her response was rather disappointing, even though he _had_ expected it.

With a soft sigh, Slenderman gestured broadly at her as he clarified, "You can fly. I can not simplify it further for you."

Clutching at her hoodie protectively Bean instantly protested, "No, I can't fly."

"Can not, or will not?" Slenderman questioned smoothly. "Bean, my dear, you are not human. Your wings are there to protect you, as are, I assume, your odd ears and tail. Denying their use does nothing for you."

"No, you don't understand." Bean insisted fearfully. "I _can't_ use them!"

"Then you will learn." Slenderman said in an even voice that boded ill for anyone who tried to argue with him. "Take off your hoodie."

"No." Instantly, Bean clutched at the white material, face a mask of shock. "You can't make me do this!"

"Yes actually, I can." Slenderman rose to his feet and crossed his arms testily. "If I must, I will remove your hoodie by force."

Staring at him for a moment, as if judging how serious he was, Bean clenched the bottom of her hoodie with white knuckled fists. "I guess I don't have a choice then." She mumbled in defeat, anger never leaving her blue eyes.

"No, you do not." Slenderman said with a verbal smirk.

Eyes never leaving him, Bean carefully removed her hoodie and tossed it aside, visibly flinching as he slowly advanced on her thin form. Silently moving behind the nervous girl, Slenderman gently reached out and pulled her wings free of her tanktop. Despite their strangeness, they were truly a work of art. Splaying thin white fingers over the soft, mismatched oddities for a fraction of a second, he rumbled in approval before stepping aside and snapping back to business.

"Have you ever attempted flight before?"

"After invading my mind, I'm pretty sure you can answer that question already." Bean quipped, posture shifting towards defensive.

"You are letting your past control you." Slenderman informed her calmly.

"Isn't that what our pasts are for?" Bean asked, voice bordering on upset. "To control our actions in the future?"

"They are what teaches us yes, but not what defines us." Slenderman's tone was cool. "I understand you have suffered for what you are, but allowing it to stop you now is simply ridiculous."

"It's not ridiculous!" Bean burst in anger, wings fluttering gracelessly around her face as she waved her arms expressively. "I haven't been able to be _me_ since I was four!"

"Why four?" Slenderman asked curiously.

"It's none of your damn business!" Bean all but yelled, storming past Slenderman to look over the edge of the roof. "Why the hell are you telling me to fly up here anyway?"

"A bird learns to fly from falling out of its nest." Slenderman's words quirked up at the end. "I thought that perhaps all that is needed for you to take flight is a little _push_."

Bean looked at him like he was absolutely mad. "You're insane." She said, her voice flat and sure. "You're completely crazy. You were going to push me off the roof in the hopes I would _fly?_ " Shaking her head she just stared at him, mouth agape.

"I am not insane, I assure you." Slenderman said blithely. "A little off putting at first perhaps but not-"

"Falling from here would kill me! I thought you didn't want me to die." Bean began pacing back and forth, clearly needing some place to expend the nervous energy coursing through her body. "Did you really think I'd just learn to use these _things_ on the way down or something?"

"Well, there exists nothing like a little pressure to bring out the best in people." Slenderman reasoned. "I certainly _hope_ you would learn. Otherwise that fall would prove quite nasty."

"But I don't want to learn in the first place." Bean insisted. "You know I want to be normal, stop trying to turn me into another one of your damn monsters!"

Slenderman took a step forward, hoping to calm the restless girl. "I am trying to do no such thing, I merely wish for you to accept what you already are."

"I'm a _human!_ " Bean protested, backing away from him. "I've just got some weird appendages I can't get rid of." She continued her retreat as she sputtered, "And I don't need you to fucking _help_ me _be myself!_ "

Seeing the edge of the roof approaching behind the furious girl a bit too quickly, Slenderman's hand shot forward, suddenly apprehensive about letting her fall from the roof. "Bean, I think it would do you well to-"

"Don't you dare try to push me!" Bean shouted irately pulling herself from Slenderman's outstretched hands. A look of abject terror crossed the girl's face as she found that the roof, which had been so faithfully supporting her till then, was just not there any more. As she pitched backwards off the roof with a scream, Slenderman forced himself to remain calm by reassuring himself that of course the girl would fly, she was built to.

 _She is not going to fly is she._

At the thought, fear raced through Slenderman. In a panic, he vanished and reappeared below the plummeting Bean. Without a thought in his head, the man-monster reached out his long arms and caught the girl deftly, cutting off her scream abruptly.

Both creatures stared at each other for a moment before the blond girl muttered, "You… You just…"

Suddenly feeling exposed, Slenderman vanished again, reappearing in Bean's bedroom where he unceremoniously dumped the winged girl onto one of the two beds. Shaking the confusion from his mind sharply, Slenderman curtly said, "I apologise for…" Uncharacteristically, he trailed off, unable to excuse what had just occurred.

"For what?" Bean asked, eyes full of unspoken accusations. "Saving me?"

"I am not sorry for that." Knowing whatever he said would only spark a fresh argument with the curious girl before him, Slenderman judiciously took his leave, vanishing.

 _I am_ not _running away, I am merely retreating till a later time!_

As he re-appeared before the mansion, the tall, faceless man took a moment to lean against a tree and breath deeply. _This is most unlike me…_

 _Why ever did I save her?_

 **A/N: So that chapter happened. I guess you could say the real Bean x Slenderman stuff picks up the pace here but really, I would never say that's the most important thing going on.**

 **Artic and Lily, your flashback my dears.**

 **Just a side note, this story has 4,000 views and 50 reviews! You readers are so amazing I can hardly stand it! Thank you so much for all your support.**

 **Until I can find IDG, bye bye.**


	17. Limited or Limitless

**A/N: Well… Still no sign of IDG but I'm sure we can all agree that-**

 **IDG: HOLD IT! You backstabbing, two faced she-devil! You couldn't wait a few minutes for me.**

 **Q: … I plead the fifth.**

 **IDG: Nice try, that trick won't work on me this time. As a punishment, I'm removing the rights for you to use Spectra. She dies, right now!**

 **Q: NO PLEASE, DON'T DO THAT TO THE READERS!**

 **IDG: It's too late now. Whoever liked her, I'm here to crush your dreams and announce that she won't be with us anymore. You can thank miss terrible friend here. Enjoy her last perspective.**

 **Q: *whimpers* Enjoy...**

 _Spectra_

"Crap, I'm gonna be late, again." Spectra muttered, glancing up at the clock at the end of the hall. Picking up her pace she half ran, half shuffled down the hallway, praying that she'd make it this time. When the bell rang, she resigned herself to being late. Again.

As she turned right she stumbled and stopped, something tugging at her, despite the fact nothing was there. _Funny, I feel like something's missing_. Deciding that she'd probably just forgotten something she rushed on, knowing her Chemistry teacher wouldn't be kind after her third lateness this week.

Finally reaching her class's door, she gasped for air, forcing her burning lungs to continue working even though they felt like they were collapsing inward. She inhaled frightenedly and turned the knob of the door. "I am _so_ sorry for being late, I promise it won't… Happen again?"

The class room was absolutely empty. Cautiously entering the room, Spectra's mind immediately wondered _, Did I miss something?_

Slowly she made her way to her seat, utterly confused. Maybe this was what she'd forgotten? Maybe today was a day off and she had forgotten…

But no, there had been people in her last class. She'd had to sit through an hour of boredom as usual. The teacher had been talking about…

Maybe she'd been daydreaming more than usual. As she thought back, she realized she had no idea what had happened in class. Feeling slightly panicked, she searched her memories for anything that had happened that day and came up blank.

"Maria…" She whispered aloud. If anyone knew how to help her it was her big sister.

Except her sister, like all the other students, wasn't there. No, she was always around, surely her sister wouldn't have just let her go to school if there was no school.

"Is anybody here?" Dropping her things on the first desk she came to, she started to wander the school, repeating that phrase so many times it didn't sound real anymore. The classes, the hallways, the gym, even the offices were all empty.

 _There's always someone here!_ She couldn't help but feel like something had happened. From the moment she'd stumbled in the hallway, something had been off. _What's going on? Why am I here?_

A thick lump started forming in her throat that she couldn't seem to dispel. Holding her breath in an attempt to force back the awful choking sensation in her chest, Spectra at last whispered, "Where's everyone?" Moist, shiny tears started rolling down on her cheeks. Sitting down on the staircase, she let wave after wave of fear and despair crash over her.

 _I'm so sorry. Are you okay?_

Her head came up immediately, quickly scanning her surroundings for the source of the voice. The sound tugged at her memory, pulling her to her feet despite the crushing weight that seemed to be fighting to keep her down.

 _I think I can help with that._

Quickly, almost tripping over herself, Spectra ran down the stairs, needing to know where the voice that seemed so familiar was coming from. _So familiar. But why can't I remember!_ "Where are you?" She yelled, desperation lending her strength. "Who are you?"

 _Miguel, Miguel Miller._

Skidding to a stop right in the place she'd tripped, Spectra felt her head clear. This wasn't real. Whatever this was, it wasn't reality. Even though she couldn't remember what had really happened, she knew that this was all just an illusion.

 _A dream._

Everything was dark. Dragging up her head Spectra stared around, confusion replaced with a thin smile. _Funny,_ she thought as she got to her feet. _Usually after a dream like that I wake up._ Staring straight ahead, Spectra waited for something to happen, unable to stop the chuckle from tumbling out of her mouth.

"You know, I never thought that a dream could scare me that much." She muttered, running a hand through her hair, unwilling to let her guard down, even in the absolute stillness. _Crap, I wish I'd just wake up._

Lucid dreaming sucked…

Suddenly, light blared in the dark surroundings, forcing Spectra to squint against its glare. Struggling to adjust her eyes to the light, she blinked repeatedly, noticing as she did that what had been a blank expanse of nothing was now a heavily illuminated alleyway, dark and wet but for the small spotlight that seemed fixed on her.

 _Ugh, one of these dreams._ Spectra thought with an eyeroll. The things her subconscious came up with… _At least I have some control over what's happening_. She thought, flexing pale fingers with a quickly widening grin.

"Shame, I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this." A venomous voice greeted her from the stark shadows. It's oily chill slipped down her neck, freezing her insides momentarily before she shook her head and forced a smile back on her face.

 _It's just a dream, you can control what happens_ this _time._

"You want a freak," A figure, conjured up from that dark night, stepped into the spotlight, eyes glinting like the barrel of his gun. "Then I'll give you one."

At first Spectra didn't move, after all, the bullet hadn't been meant for her. _But I'm the only one here…_ Relying solely on the instincts she hadn't had to use in so long, she lept out of the way not a moment too soon.

 _Bang!_

She knew what she was supposed to do, she was supposed to run. Every fiber in her being urged her to turn tail and escape but she fought that thought, knowing that running wouldn't get her anywhere. _This is a dream, I can't just escape._

The realization irritated her, Even when she should be in control her options felt limited. _No other choice but to fight._ Facing the man with gritted teeth, Spectra casually taunted, "You know, I seem to remember you having better aim."

The man across from her flashed her a manic grin that brought back too many bad memories. "You couldn't just do it peacefully, could you?"

Another shot rang out and this time, Spectra couldn't dodge it fast enough. The bullet hit her side, sending spiraling pain through her at once. Seeing the bloodstain blossom across her white top and start to drip to the pavement below dizzied her, almost bringing her to her knees. Despite the pain, anger spiked through her. _Fuck, even in a dream I can't win._

 _Anger is a great asset to win a battle, you just need to channel it in the right direction,_

Gritting her teeth Spectra forced herself to push past the pain trying to overload her brain. Focusing on the dispicable look of triumph that coated the man's face, Spectra lunged at him a growl leaving her lips as she did. _Not this time, not ever!_ Just as she had hoped it would, her hand went straight through the man's chest as if it were as insubstantial as smoke.

"How do you like them apples, asshole!" Her hand found it's target and clenched, tightening around the man's heart. In a single fluid motion, Spectra yanked her arm back, dragging with it the man's still beating heart.

As expected, the fresh organ in her hand quickly decomposed into nothing but smoke, along with the man. Backing up, Spectra pressed a hand to the bullet hole in her side, grinning in triumph despite the agony.

"Shit." She mumbled, collapsing against the wall of the endless ally. Closing her eyes, Spectra felt the world around her growing fuzzy around the edges as she slipped in and out of conciseness. "You've got to be kidding me."

The scene went black as she succumbed to the lure of sleep and passed out.

Tinny sounding sobs woke her up. The first thing that struck Spectra was the overwhelming scent of anesthetic in the air, suffocating her with it's oppressive, gloved fingers. Pain registered not a second afterward, pulsing at her side.

 _Pain is good, it means you're still alive._

Scared, Spectra brought her hand to her waist in an attempt to find out what was causing such a sharp pain. Or she would have, if she'd been able to move her hand. Panic started to lace itself around her mind as she realized she couldn't move. Cold metal pinned her arms at her sides and her ankles together. Struggling to sit up, she almost choked as the clamp holding her neck in place smacked against her windpipe.

 _I'm strapped to a gurney._ She realized in terror. _I'm bleeding out after being shot and now I'm in a hospital._

Forcing her eyes open Spectra rolled her eyes around wildly, trying to see what was around her. The baby that still hadn't stopped wailing was nowhere to be seen. All that she could see were the dirty white walls of a hospital. Tugging at the shackles around her wrists, Spectra cursed inwardly as she realized she no longer had any control. She was trapped.

 _Why am I here._ She thought desperately, terror starting to roll into her veins. _Who put me here?_

As if in answer to her unasked question, slow, methodical footsteps echoed down the hallway, cutting neat little trenches in the ever present sound of crying. Looking up, a horrible sight met Spectra's eyes.

Maria, dried blood streaking her mouth, chest still ripped open from the last time Spectra had seen her, eyes more reminiscent of a dead fish than those of a human, loomed over her. Mechanically, as if controlled like a marionette, her dead sister put her hands on the gurney and started pushing her down the hallway.

"Maria," Spectra whimpered, "Why are you…?" Her sister gave no indication that she'd heard her at all.

"Sis!" She yelled, needing her to answer.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word." The soft words tumbled from Maria's lips, the haunting tune bouncing back at them in the close confines of the hall. "And never mind that noise that you heard. It's just the beasts under your bed. In your closet, in your head."

As she sang they picked up speed till the gurney wasn't so much wheeling down the hall as streaking, careening down towards what she could now see were doors to an operating room. Shutting her eyes tight Spectra tried to block out her sisters singing as she prepared herself for the inevitable collision…

That never came. The doors creaked open as they neared them, allowing them through. Abruptly they stopped, all sound ceasing. Opening her eyes, Spectra watched as Maria moved around her, jerkily hooking her up to various machines. Fighting to keep her breathing steady, Spectra bit back a wince as the IV tube was inserted in her arm. _This is all just a dream._

 _Right?_

Fearfully, Spectra mumbled, "Maria, what's going on?" Still she got no answer. Instead, her sister just turned around and walked out of the room. As the doors closed the room was thrown into total darkness.

The baby started wailing again, almost drowning out the steady beeping of the heart monitor. _Why can't I escape these dreams?_ Spectra wondered, throat tightening against the terror that flashed through here. _Is this real?_ As her panic increased, the beeps increased in pace. In the total darkness with only her sense of hearing, Spectra could have sworn she heard her heart thumping, pounding against her ribcage as if to escape.

 _I need to get out, I need to escape._ Tightening her fists, Spectra felt her nails dig into her palms, actually breaking the skin. Compared to the horrible agony in her side however, they hardly stung. Was it her imagination, or was the crying getting louder?

Somehow the darkness was crushing her, squeezing every drop of life from her. Every moment that passed kicked her heartrate up further, only making her panic worse. Chest constricting around the frenzied organ, Spectra could hardly breath.

 _Help , I need help!_ She thought desperately. _Why am I alone, why is this happening?_

 _We had a deal, remember. I promised to protect you, and you promised to always be by my side._

Eyes flying open Spectra gasped out, "Miles!"

Immediately the lights flashed to life, bathing her with harsh, medical light. Blinking against it, Spectra heard a door open slowly.

"Spectra." That voice, the one that had been pulling her through this landscape of horrors almost brought tears to her eyes.

"Miles." She whispered, relief pouring through her. "Thank god you're here."

Curiously, he didn't answer. Looking in the direction she'd heard Miles' voice, Spectra felt the hope his appearance had brought crack down the middle. The boy she knew so well wore a long white lab coat. Over his mouth was a surgical mask, covering the smile she wanted -needed- to see.

"It's time to start the operation." A voice hissed through the room, not Miles' voice but another's. "You may proceed doctor Walker."

As Miles neared the table, Spectra began struggling again. "M-miles, what are you doing?"

He stood over her, eyes dull like her sister's had been. Reaching out a hand, Miles mechanically said, "Yes Sir."

"Miles, please don't do this." Spectra begged, unable to stop the small tears that leaked from the corners of her eyes. "You promised, remember?"

"You betrayed my trust. I thought you were different." His eyes burned with a sudden intensity, mismatched colors conveying the same hate. "I was wrong."

His hand plunged downward, breaking through the old scar like it was tissue paper, tearing at her ribs and yanking out her insides. Spectra couldn't help it, she screamed as loud as her throat would allow, suffering as waves and waves of agony broke over her. Over it all Miles laughed, cackling madly as he finally found his target and pulled it out.

"Guess you won't be needing this any more." He said, holding in his hand her beating heart.

Spectra only had time to whisper, "Please, no." Before Miles yanked and the heart monitor flatlined.

Breathing heavily, Spectra opened her eyes. Looking down she saw a bleeding, gaping hole in her chest where her heart should be. It hurt, yes, but she _knew_ it hurt. Didn't that mean that she was still...

A pitching cackle cut through the darkness and Spectra's eyes snapped tight. "Well Tootsie, took you long enough to die." The owner of the voice drew closer, soft footsteps circled her slowly, whoever it was examining her from all angles. "I thought it would take less but I knew you wouldn't survive. Well, goodbye Spectra, it was fun playing with you."

"Pee-ka-boo motherfucker!" Opening her eyes, Spectra looked straight into the eyes of the man before tightly grasping his wrist.

He looked like a clown every inch of him covered in black and white circus attire. Eyes widening the clown cackled again. "Well well well, looks like you survived!" Baring sharp teeth at her, he growled, "No one ever survives."

"Did you really think I'd believe those puppet shows you call torment.?" Specta asked with a laugh, rising from the gurney and coughing as her injuries seized up. "I had my doubts from the start, but using him confirmed my theory."

"Did it now?" The clown asked, flicking a striped tongue across his teeth. "Well, no matter, I guess I'll just have to kill you now. Sweet dreams lollypop."

"How about no." Spectra's fist flew out, sucker punching him across the jaw. "Suck on that."

She shot bolt upright in bed, heart beating at a million miles a minute, breathing heavily.

 _Just a dream..._

Hands instantly going to her side, where she'd been shot, she rubbed gingerly and felt small sparks of pain course through her, but not from her waist. Lifting her hands she saw thin crescents of blood on both palms where her fingernails had dug into her flesh. Biting her lip to keep from screaming, Spectra leaned back on her slightly bleeding hands and felt the right one miss the mattress, sending her tumbling to the floor.

Stifling a yelp of pain, she stumbled to her feet, still disoriented from her dream and now the fall. _I need to get out of here._ She thought dimly, the panic she'd been feeling before returning. _I can't do this, I need to escape!_ Without any real orders from her, her legs started to move, pushing her towards the room's exit in much the same a trapped animal would run.

Suddenly, the closed door loomed before her and she crashed headfirst into the solid oak wood, sending her sprawling to the floor once more as it snapped her out of the trance she'd been in. Cradling her throbbing skull, Spectra hissed. "Ugh, what the fuck?" Taking her time to assess the situation, Spectra rubbed the bump on her head, sending another mild jolt of pain through her. _Well if I didn't think it was real life before..._

"Shit," She muttered, leaning back and just letting the cold of the wood floor soak into her night shirt. "That clown really fucked me up good."

* * *

 _Ellie_

"Oh _wow_ ," Ellie sarcastically commented as she finished another impossible and quite painful quest. "You're rewarding me with 500 souls after I spent all of my resources fighting your stupid OP boss, you _shouldn't have_."

With a tired sigh, she saved her game and turned off the PS4. Turning on her phone she looked at the time and turned it off again, unwilling to believe her eyes. If the phone was to be believed, it was three in the morning. _So it's been six hours._ Biting her lip in stifled amusement, Ellie shrugged. _Meh, I've stayed up for longer._

"How about it Soph? Wanna try something else?" She turned and remembered the girl was still downstairs drinking or something. That had been what she'd promised to do after all, get so drunk she wouldn't have to watch Ellie playing Witcher 3.

 _How rude… I only played that for an hour or three. She should have known instinctively that I switched games._

With a small smile that she reserved only for her friend, her _real_ friend, Ellie got to her feet and stretched her tired numb muscles, yawning much like a cat.

Part of her wanted to go find something to eat but the smarter, more practical side…

Completely agreed, who was she kidding.

With a slouch in her step, Ellie walked towards the door, muttering, "Yo Sophia, where you at?" as she swung her door closed.

A sound from her room made her stop and turn around, confused. Furrowing her brow, she pushed open her bedroom door again and settled her eyes on what she knew was the noise's source, even though it didn't make much sense.

Her phone was ringing.

Suddenly alert, Ellie strode to the device, long legs carrying her across the room in less than a second. With curious fingers, she looked at the number. It was a private caller.

 _Don't do it Ell._ Sophia's voice of reason seemed to echo through the room. _Horror movie 101, the killer always calls very late at night._

But there was nothing Sophia's disembodied voice could say that could stop her curiosity. Putting on a practiced deadpan, she swiped the screen and placed the phone against her ear. "Who's this?"

"Who's this?" The person on the other line replied in an amused tone. The voice was a male, but other than that, the caller's identity was a mystery to Ellie. With a chuckle he asked, "Do you like scary movies?"

Tapping the back of her phone case Ellie asked, in an incredulous tone, "Hang on, is this from that movie with that terrible serial killer? What was the name, Scream?"

"Good guess." The stranger said with a chuckle. "You still didn't answer my question."

"I happen to be a terrific guesser." Ellie said, ignoring his words completely.. "And seeing as how I'm in the middle of nowhere and just got an impossible call, I'm also guessing you're the hacker who somehow got inside my game."

"Impressed?"

Ellie smiled a little but didn't let on her amusement. "Any lonely loser who lives under his grandma's house can hack." She announced, twirling her hair around her finger before realizing how stereotypical she was being."Tell me mister hacker, have your balls dropped yet?"

"How are you enjoying your stay?" He asked ignoring her jibe.

"I'm a little disappointed, you know?" Letting her body drop on the bed, she found herself amused talking to someone else for a change. Even if that person was a geek. "I was expecting something like blood oozing on the walls, or maybe a graveyard." Remembering the recent one she'd help create, she amended. "Besides the one we just made. I mean, the least you could do is give us a skull or something. I'm even okay with a jumpscare."

"That's hardly fair," The hacker protested, "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get severed heads off the black market these days?"

"You couldn't just kill someone to get one?" Ellie asked with a raised eyebrow. "I'm ashamed of you mister hacker. I think my little nephew can easily access the deep webs. I usually order hits on my exes."

"You don't have any exes." The caller countered.

"Well congratulations, you've done your homework. You want a cookie?" Ellie's mocking smile was pointless, considering the fact her caller couldn't see her.

"A little respect would be nice." She could tell he was getting tired of her mockery and the evident frustration delighted her.

"Tell you what, give me something original, and I'll show you some respect."

There was a pause.

"You don't seem to understand what position you're in." The caller said softly. There was a threat in his tone but Ellie wasn't one to care.

"What will you do, hack my Facebook and share my nudes?" Ellie pulled a pout. "Too bad I don't have any. That being said I have some great pictures of my neighbour's cat…" She trailed off absentmindedly.

"You want something original and scary?" The caller said, challenging her.

"You see, you're going about it all wrong." Chided Ellie, getting to her feet and meandering towards the door. "You're supposed to lead out with the threat. Make it one you can carry out immediately."

"You can ask me anything, just as long as it's a yes or no question." The hacker finally growled.

"Okay, not scary but interesting." Wandering out her still open door Ellie asked, "Can I call you Link, cause that's who you looked like in Minecraft."

"Um, no." The caller answered slowly. "I'm not Link."

"Yeah, you're more of a Ben or a Joe," she admitted. Dropping the mockery, Ellie got to work. Asking only the important questions, unlike the dumb blond victims in every horror movie. "Are you in the house?"

"No."

"Lovely, we make progress. Is there any limit to my questions?"

"Yes." There was a sharp noise as if someone had elbowed the caller in the side. "I mean no?" There was a moment of silence. "Um… we'll see. Better?"

"Hm, did your eight years girlfriend just corrected for you? You're terrible at your job." Ellie informed him, unimpressed. "Are you inside the force dome, or at least in the forest?"

"No? I mean, a definite no." There was another pause. "And she's not my girlfriend."

Letting out a disappointed sigh, Ellie said, "Should I even bother with this conversation?"

There was an identical sigh from the other end of the line. "Honestly, I don't know, it's not really getting anywhere."

"Kid," Ellie stared out the windows into the darkness of the night. "Really, how old are you. You sound like a twelve years old who got a hold of his dad's phone."

"That's not a yes or no question." The caller, a child she was now certain, sounded like he was pouting. "For your information, in my line of work, age is rendered irrelevant ."

"Ooh, big words for such a small kid." Ellie mocked but there wasn't any fire behind it. What he'd said had struck a chord with her. In some small way, she could relate to the feeling of being belittled because of her age. "Listen, I'm gonna hang up now. It was fun talking to you, actually it wasn't, but I already have enough trouble dealing with the kids here. I don't need any more."

"Don't hang up! Again, my age doesn't matter. I still have the upperhand, remember?" The caller insisted.

Rolling her eyes, Ellie muttered, "Goodbye." And she hung up.

The phone started ringing again.

"What is it now?" She asked, peeved.

"I forgot to ask something. After that, I'll leave you alone."

She thought about it for a moment, letting her feet carry her away from the window as she did so. "I want your name first. Calling you Mister hacker is too nice but calling you kid, I have to admit, is a tad bit insulting. Give me your name and you can ask me something else."

The caller did his own thinking while she amused herself by listening to the sounds of one of the girl's grunts, no doubt having a bad dream of some sort.

 _Weren't they all…_

"The name's Ben." He muttered at last.

 _Called it._ Smirking to herself, she queried, "What were you gonna ask me?"

"I was going to ask if you hope to make it out of that house alive."

 _Well that took a turn_. Shrugging lazily, Ellie admitted, "I don't really care. I mean, _yay surviving_ but seriously, it's not something I've been actively thinking about, like, in the long term."

"Strange. What if your number was up next?"

"Look at it this way _Ben_ , here I am in a house with no means of escape. My connections are mostly down, the forest has a force field and bodies have already dropped. Not to mention, I've been living with dumb monkeys for the past few days. I mean, I clearly am the only one who's thinking clearly around here. So basically, I have nothing to lose.

"Yeah, my number is coming, as you so eloquently put it, but in the end, fate, something you killers rely on very heavily, isn't something I subscribe to. I'm a cat, I make my own luck and all this comes down to is one second."

The comparison seemed lost on Ben. "What's that supposed to mean."

"Everything that's happening will ultimately culminate in one second for me. Whether my killer wins or I manage to get a knife between his eyes. Everything else, that's just details."

"Pretty cold." Ben observed.

"I didn't come here to make friends." Ellie responded with a smirk. "I came here to get drunk and complain as much I as I could."

"If you die you can't do that."

"Yeah but I'm going to hell anyway." She responded lazily, walking over to the banister that overlooked the living room and kitchen. "I've no opinion about when."

"Are you sure that only one moment can decide that?" Ben asked softly. "What about the other _moments_ surrounding you?"

"You're one curious fella, aren't you?" Ellie looked over at her friend who was passed out at the bar. In one hand was a half full glass of alcohol. She smiled slightly as she made her way over to the staircase.

"Well, I'm a killer aren't I?" Ben asked mischievously. "I specialize in being interesting."

As each stair creaked slightly under her weight, Ellie muttered, "On the subject of moments, how does it feel to witness our last one?"

Ben thought about it before saying, "I guess it's a different sort of moment. And maybe a chance to witness someone else's."

Padding over to Sophia, Ellie looked down at her friend, sighed and pulled the whiskey from her limp fingers. _Oh Soph, what am I going to do with you?_

"Are you going to care when the other people in that house are going through that final moment?"

"If you call amusement caring, then sure." Ellie allowed, reaching out her fingers to brush Sophia's bangs from her forehead.

"What about Sophia's moment?"

Involuntarily, Ellie froze, fingers tightening on her phone. "I'm sorry?"

"She's pretty hammered, is she not?"

"Ben, was that a threat?"

Ben didn't answer but Ellie didn't really need him to. "You know, when I said I'm okay with dying, that doesn't mean I'm okay with death. Sure, it's funny but sometimes, it's wrong."

"Hang on, did I just crack you?" There was a sudden change in his tone, dropping it to an amused pitch. "I think I just found your weakness."

"Weakness is a very strong word, it also happens to be relative." Rage boiled through her and it took everything Ellie had not to scream at him. "A cat's got nine lives-"

"But you're not a cat." He interrupted delightedly. "You're just a phony tough bitch."

"I'm not tough, I'm not phony. I am a bitch though and if you touch Sophia, you will see quite a lot of bitchiness. I know you, I know your type, I know how far you'll go and what you'll try. You can throw out names all you want but in reality, I do have nine lives and I'll lay down every one for Sophia. You can just _try_ and win."

"Then I guess I have a long road ahead of me, because guess what _bitch_ , I have your number." There was a brief and muffled argument on the line.

"Hi," It was a new voice, that of a girl. Ellie knew at once she was young. "I know you're busy being badass and all that, but it's not going to work. We always win."

Her anger ran cold, it was the kind she prefered to be honest. "So you're the stalker." She observed, ignoring the girl's threats. "You know, my sister once told me not to climb trees with dresses on. Nice underwear by the way. Red is really your color, much better than that dirty pink, I think."

"You _bitch_ ," The girl growled, "When I come for you-" There was another interruption, followed closely with another muffled argument.

"Children, children, calm down." Ellie insisted. "There are enough cookies for everyone."

"Fuck you," said the same little girl.

"Sally! Language!"

"Fuck you too. And for the record, I like your brother better than you." Ellie hung up the phone.

Noticing her hand shaking slightly, she held it tight with the other hand and tried to shake away her anger.

Looking back at her tiny friend Ellie felt her anger finally drain. "Well Sophia, I think we've both had an interesting night." Walking around the counter, Ellie easily picked her friend up, smiling as the brunette's limp head rested against her shoulder. "We're all fucked but what else is new, am I right?"

Walking a bit slower, not wanting to wake her friend, Ellie climbed the stairs, thinking as she did so that Ben was right. The killers always did win.

But then, she had never lost.

* * *

 _?_

 _Crash!_

"FUCK!" Rubbing his head, he looked back up at the branch he'd been sleeping on and tried to ignore that sudden drop in his stomach that had woken him up in the first place.

 _Truly, a monkey is what a monkey does._

"Shut up, both of you." God, that sudden sinking sensation in his chest always scared him. He knew it meant something was wrong.

 _She's not okay._

"I know that!"

 _She's with one of them_.

"STOP REPEATING THE OBVIOUS ASSHOLE!"

 _Technically you're the asshole as well…_

"Stop making this about me!" he snapped, glaring at the spot where the killers had been vanishing to. "Great, I probably missed another window."

 _If you did as we told you to, and ignored the cops, we'd be rescuing her!_

"Do you two ever shut up! Both of you are driving me crazy." Scratching the skin of his head, he tried to calm down. He was lucky that cops showed up. Killing some people had temporarily tamed the beast within himself, grounded him.

 _Says the guy who's yelling at himself in the middle of nowhere._

Ignoring himself temporarily, he wondered if there was something he could do. Unfortunately, he was only the muscles.

 _Need help thinking?_

"Fuck off." He muttered. "It can't be that hard to get in there."

 _I'll give you ten seconds before giving up._

Letting out a loud groan, he took all he needed was a killer he could hitch a ride from but that wasn't going to work. Especially if all the other killers turned out to be as insane as that Jeff and Jane couple. God they'd been weird.

 _This isn't getting you anywhere._

Ha! If only the hardest thing he had to think about were relationship problems. That would be just perfect. With a little time and effort, something neither Jeff nor Jane bothered with obviously, you could sort through anything.

Getting into a location that didn't seem to exist, that was the tricky part.

Giving up, he sat with his back against a tree and stared at the _magical_ spot.

 _It's not magic idiot._

"Probably is," he countered, still not taking his eyes off the thing. Somewhere, she was waiting for him. At least, he hoped she was. Either way, he was coming for her.

 _She's stronger than you give her credit for._

"I know, I just worry she doesn't realize her limits." Letting out a heavy sigh, he added. "One of them encountered her. I could feel her fear."

 _At least she's alive._

"But for how long?"

Slowly climbing back up his chosen tree, he tried fall back to sleep.

Really, he ought to worry later, it wouldn't do him any good now.

 _So incredibly simple minded…_

 **A/N: … I take it that wasn't supposed to happen?**

 **IGD: What the actual fuck!? Why wasn't she turned into a bloody pulp, or hacked to pieces?**

 **Q: Beats me, I've always said that these characters have a mind of their own. And besides, I gave her three chances to be killed. You should be satisfied!**

 **IDG: No! *Mutters* Maybe a little…**

 **Q: Good. Now, I guess I owe an apology to some people… I'm really, really sorry for not writing in forever, falling off the face of the earth might not have been my idea but it certainly was my fault. *sniffles* I'm sorry.**

 **IDG: And guys, stop being a drama queen. If something happens, I'll let you know. I'm not going anywhere since I'm already a ghost.**

 **Q: Ignore him, Lilypad, I'm sorry for not getting my shit together sooner, I hope this brightens your day.**

 **IDG: Wow, *Claps sarcastically* You were gone for a month, and this is all you have to say? *Claps more* I'm very touched.**

 **Q: IpromiseIwon'tdoitagain! Until next time, bye!**


	18. Partners, not Friends

**A/N: I must say, some of the comments I got on last chapter were quite interesting. Ben x Ellie? I did not see** _ **that**_ **one coming.**

 **IDG: Yeah! Metallica lives on!**

 **Q: And as for the matter of ? and Slenderman, well our dear readers, you should just leave that to us.**

 **IDG: Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams.**

 **Q: *glares at IDG* Focus!**

 **IDG: Into abyss, you don't exist, cannot resist, the Judas kiss.**

 **Q: Well just now look what you've done to him. *sighs* I suppose he'll be quoting Metallica for the next few hours or so. As for me, I have a chapter to co-write. Enjoy!**

 _Ben_

"She just hung up on me!" Sally fumed, little arms crossed in furry.

"Well," Ben awkwardly began with a nervous chuckle. "It could've gone worse, right?"

Sally gave Ben a sharp glare and exclaimed, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ben tried to find a reply to her question, but Sally cut him off. "You call that a threatening phone call?"

"Well I wouldn't say-"

"Ben, she knows who you are and she knows who _I_ am. That is the very definition of _failure_!" Sally screeched, green eyes firey.

Ben opened his mouth to find a proper response, but failed miserably once again. "Well, I'm sure she-"

Sally cut him off by holding her palm in front of his face. "Not another word." Pinching the bridge of her nose, she tried to inhale and exhale slowly to calm down. "Next time, you shut your mouth and let me handle the situation, capeesh?"

"Chrystal." Giving her several moments to cool down, Ben proceed with his pacing. "But seriously Sal, I don't think you're going to make much of a difference. This girl is good."

"Do I look like I care?" Sally gave him a sharp glare. "I'm a veteran at killing people."

"Hey!" Ben exclaimed. "I've been doing it longer."

Sally ignored him and with a roll of her eyes, continued her talk, "The point is, I don't want to be made a laughing stock because I have to carry dead weight with me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ben jumped from his seat and stood tall in front of her. "I collected information, stalked her, and succeeded in finding her weakness."

"I'm pretty sure you just pissed her off." Sally muttered, expression deadpan. "And for your information, while you've been sitting here in front of a computer screen, I've been actually following her and observing her movements. In a nutshell, I already knew everything about her before breakfast. So once again, you were useless."

Ben smirked and drawled, "Listen Sal, I know you've done a lot of work here too and trust me, it's been _very_ helpful but your idea of toying with someone is just empty threats."

Raising an eyebrow, Sally picked up her glass of water and cried, "Think fast!" before tossing most the water in his direction.

Ben leapt out of the way, dragging his laptop with him to protect it from Sally's attack. "What the fuck Sally!" Ben shouted in outraged disbelief.

"My threats are empty, right?" She said with a glare. "You're not supposed to do this on your own."

Ben sighed, trying to calm his heart. "Look at me Sally," His sister grudgingly met his eyes. "I get it, Ellie's got you pissed off. You have every right to be angry but taking it out on me? That's not going to accomplish shit."

"It might." Sprinkling the drops of water from her finger in his direction, Sally's salty attitude remained unchanged.

"Yeah but it won't." Slowly, watching to make sure Sally wasn't planning on pulling anymore stunts, Ben sat down. "We need a plan, okay. With this girl, rushing in, that isn't going to work."

"Okay, here's the plan, you keep your mouth shut while I think of a plan." Sally commanded in a bossy tone.

"I've already got a plan." Ben snapped, fed up with his sister's antics.

Preparing the half filled glass as her weapon, Sally sharpened her glare and said, "Let's hear it."

"It involves patience." He stated flatly, raising an eyebrow in her direction.

"Yep, already don't like it." Sally announced, setting down her glass and crossing her arms.

"Yeah I figured as much." Picking up his phone once more, Ben looked at Ellie's number, a contemplative expression on his face. "When it comes to dealing with people like Ellie, our best bet is to wait them out. We've got all the time in the world-"

Sally glanced at the digital clock on Ben's bedside, the one that they'd set specifically for this game, and interjected, "Actually, we've got a bit less that seven days left."

"Irrelevant!" Ben growled. "What I'm trying to say is that she's got a little clock in her head now that's telling her Sophia's and her own days are numbered. That little clock, it drives people insane Sally."

"So we just wait till she goes bat-shit crazy on her own? What kind of bullshit plan is that?" Sally exploded, waving her hands wildly and almost knocking the glass of water off the table as she did so. Ben winced when her hand hit it gently.

"W-well, I didn't say that." Ben stuttered, eyeing the glass of water.

"Then what are you saying?" Sally asked, eyes narrowed.

"I'm saying we use time and circumstances to soften her up, then, all we have to do is widen that chink in her armor." Tapping the phone with a sudden grin, Ben continued, "You see Sal, this is our way in. All we have to do is know what's going on inside her head, use that knowledge against her and pick her apart accordingly."

"So, I'm back to being a convenient filler then?" Sally asked, suddenly gloomy. "Figures."

"I have no idea what that means, but judging by your look, it doesn't sound nice." Ben stated, worried.

"It doesn't matter." Sally muttered, waving his concern away. "It's cool."

"So, while you do your info gathering, I'll be making the phone calls, playing with her and maybe getting her to trust me." Ben announced with a smile.

With a serious look, Sally warned her brother, "If you turn this into a Ben x Ellie story I swear on my mother's and father's bloody corpses that I will-"

"You'll what?" Ben interrupted, an unamused look on his face.

"I'll kill her." Sally said simply, a faint smile on hers.

"How exactly is that a threat?" Ben asked, bemused.

"Trust me Ben, if the time comes, you'll find it _very_ threatening." Sally said voice low. "And if that doesn't work I'll file a copyright claim against this story."

"Ooh, I'm shaking in my boots." Ben mocked, shrugging off his sister's words. "But you have to admit, whatever else you want to say about Ellie, she sure has a certain flair to her."

"Stop it!" Sally snapped, tossing the rest of the water at Ben and this time managing to land a few drops on his face.

With a yell, Ben swatted at the watery invasion and almost tipped his chair over in the process. "Fuck you Sally, I'm not going to let her go or anything!"

"I didn't think so, I'm just pissed at you." Sally admitted, getting to her feet. "Well, you have fun stalking Ellie online or whatever you do in your spare time. I've got some spying to do." She flounced from the room.

Ben watched her go, an inaudible groan passing his lips as he did so. His sister was great and all, but man, she had no idea what subtlety was. Maybe someday she's pick some of it up. Then again, not many killers in the house knew how to finesse something either.

"Oh and Ben," Sally popped her head out from the side of the door, looking at him with her innocent smile. "If I find out that you've fallen for her in any sort of way, I'll drown you in the bathtub."

"Okay Sally." Ben replied, not worried by her threats.

Her tone dropped into a dark growl. "I'm serious." The door slammed shut behind the sounds of her receding footsteps.

With a shake of his head, Ben muttered, "Mm hm, I'm sure you are Sal, I'm sure you are."

* * *

 _EJ_

A loud slam jolted EJ awake from his dreams. Blinking sleepily, even though it didn't do any good, the blind killer was silent for the count of ten as he listened intently to Sally's muttered threats as she walked down the hall of the floor above to get to her room.

 _Probably Ben or something._ With a yawn, EJ reached for the open faced wall clock he kept by his bed and used the exposed hands to check the time. _Three thirty eh?_ Part of him insisted that Ben and Sally shouldn't be awake at this time of night but the rest of him knew that the last time Slenderman had tried to impose a bedtime, Sally had ended up with two broken legs after being pushed off the roof.

After that it had been agreed curfew was a stupid idea anyway.

Getting to his feet, EJ padded towards his bathroom, weaving around his impeccably organised belongings with the ease of someone who has done it many times before. If he was lucky, he could get some more sleep before breakfast, if he went down at all that is. After all, he wasn't particularly eager to find out how LJ's attempts to kill Spectra had gone.

Sighing, he pushed open the bathroom door and walked in, hand going instinctively for the cup that he kept four inches from the hot water tap. When his hand met nothing but air, EJ muttered something foul and listened for the sounds he should have been expecting in the first place.

"Jeff, you do know the floor in my bedroom's more comfortable than the tub, right?"

As he leaned against the counter, arms crossed, EJ listened to the shuffling and hollow clanging that came from Jeff's hurried movements to sit up. Reaching behind him and sweeping a hand carefully over the counter, EJ found his missing cup and accurately tossed the water it held at Jeff before refilling it. "Don't make me do it again." He threatened as Jeff spluttered and coughed.

"Jesus fucking Christ, what the fuck?" Jeff demanded, sounding absolutely furious. "If you knew I was here then what was that for?"

"Nuh uh, I'm the one asking the questions here." EJ said, unamused. "What are you doing in my tub in the first place? You could have just asked, I have a cot in the corner of my room."

"Why do you have one of those?" Jeff asked in confusion.

"It was for the last time Hoodie and Masky got into a huge- you know, that's actually irrelevant. I'm asking you why _you're_ here at all. It's 3:30 and I'm not in the mood for small-talk Jeff." EJ informed him curtly. "Start talking."

Jeff shifted uncomfortably and EJ could easily picture him wriggling around in the tub, an awkward look on his face. "Well, Ben doesn't have a tub and I don't want to use Toby's or the other girls-"

"That's not what I'm asking Jeff." Shifting his weight so he was sitting on the counter, EJ tilted his head and asked, "Why aren't you in your room?"

"Look," Letting out a small sigh, Jeff sat up on the rim of the tub. "Me and Jane… are having a break."

"She dumped you." EJ stated blandly before muttering, "About time."

"Very funny." Jeff groaned.

"And you haven't made up with her yet?" He asked, unsurprised. Only Jeff and Jane could turn a little argument into a full out war.

"Relax, I don't need to apologize." Jeff casually waved his hand around, disturbing the air. "I'm pretty sure she's just on her period. We'll have hate sex in no time and everything will be okay."

"Jeff. Has anyone ever told you that sex isn't always the magic answer to every relationship problem?" EJ asked in a monotone.

"And how would you know that?" Jeff scoffed. "The last time I checked, you haven't even dated a girl!" A moment's pause. EJ could see the joke coming from a mile away. "Or a dude, not judging."

With a pained sigh, EJ kneaded his forehead. Sometimes he was certain that he was the only Pasta that didn't share their sex life with everyone they met. "You know, I've got this niggling feeling that I'm right here Jeff. Hot sweaty sex isn't going to make Jane happy again."

"Buddy, you don't know her like I do."

"Have you ever considered that she might be acting like every other girl in the world for a change?" EJ asked patiently. "Because usually, when girls are pissed, they really don't like it when the person who made them mad proceeds to try and get up their skirt." He could practically hear Jeff's brain puzzling over what he'd just said.

"Well, technically, she's more of a dress type of girl." Jeff pointed out, completely ignoring his statement.

Feeling despondent, Jack let out a heavy sigh. _Sometimes, I wonder why I even bother with these people._ Running a hand through his tousled hair, EJ slowly asked, "Jeff, when was the last time you tried _talking_ out your problems?"

"What are you talking about, we always solve our problems during sex." Jeff replied, missing Jack's point entirely.

"Jeff, what I'm trying to say is, sometimes all a girl wants is for you to apologize, even if it wasn't your fault in the first place.' EJ said, raising his voice to talk over Jeff's idiocy.

"Okay.." Pausing for a moment, Jeff asked, "How do I apologize for something that's not my fault?"

"Why don't you tell me what you did." EJ suggested, pretending to poise a pen over a clipboard of notes as he spoke.

"Well, I woke up around nine to turn off my alarm, then proceed by sleeping until one-"

"This isn't a crime report Jeff. Let's back up to when Jane first got upset with you." EJ waited for Jeff to catch on, taking the slight _ah_ as a signal that his insane friend had finally gotten the message.

Placing a hand on his chin, Jeff thought about it carefully. "It's really hard to say. She always plays hard to get with me."

"Or maybe she was upset about something. Not everything she does is foreplay." EJ intoned, scrawling some notes on his imaginary papers.

"Hmm," Taking another minute to think deeply, Jeff snapped his fingers in realization. "Oh yeah, there was this one thing! She was trying to kill Emily but I popped in and started flirting with her. Usually, she jumps on me after the first try."

"I take it she was mad before that happened." EJ muttered flatly, eyebrows raising.

"You know, it's really creepy that you don't have a light in here." Jeff commented in a classic avoidance pattern.

"Don't change the subject." Jack insisted with a heavy sigh. "Why was she mad?"

"She wanted to do something stupid." Jeff admitted, followed by more uncomfortable shifting. "So I stopped her."

"That's good." EJ said encouragingly. "We're making progress here. The first step towards a solution is the problem."

EJ could feel Jeff's glare, even though he couldn't see it. "How the hell is that good! She went ape-shit crazy on me because I stopped her."

"Why did you stop her?" EJ asked, patient to a fault as he tapped the top of the imaginary clipboard with the equally non-existent pen.

"I don't know!" Jeff crossed his arms, the shift in the material giving away the fact he was no longer looking at Jack. "It's Jane, she's always been a pain in my ass."

EJ blew out a breath. "You remember what I said about making progress? I take that back." Thinking for a moment EJ asked, "Let's try an easier question. Why did you start dating Jane in the first place?" Before Jeff could open his mouth, Jack quickly added, "Other than the sexual intercourse."

Jeff closed his mouth and huffed. "There goes my answer."

"Jeff, people don't just get involved in the sort of relationship you and Jane… Enjoy just for the sex. Especially if they hate one another as much you two pretend to." EJ lectured.

Jeff grumbled something under his breath, which Jack couldn't quite catch. "What was that?"

"I care about her, there I said it." Jeff groused, uncrossing his arms and crossing them again.

"Why was that so hard?" EJ asked in confusion.

"Listen man, when you fall in love with someone, especially a girl as amazing as Jane, you do some crazy shit." Jeff started babbling the first thoughts that popped into his head. "Jane was gonna get in some serious trouble with the boss and I had to stop her. I knew what was at stake, okay?"

"And this is related how?" Jack asked, feeling much like Jeff had given up on making sense and was just trying to tell him his life story.

"When you get a girlfriend, you'll know." Jeff insisted. "Or a dude, still not judging."

"Jeff, focus. Does she know you're acting like you are because you care, or not?" EJ asked probingly.

"Well, yeah, I've told her that I care a million times. She just doesn't seem to get that I'm trying to help!" Jeff groaned, distressed.

"Exactly how do you help her?"

"You know, the usual. Pulling her around, screaming at her, threatening her, fighting her." Jeff began counting his methods of dealing with Jane. "I even tried talking to her about why she shouldn't do stupid shit."

"That's not what she wants, is it?" EJ pointed out, waving his hand in Jeff's direction.

"No, I'm pretty sure that's what she's into." Jeff replied.

"Jeff, stop treating her like she's your pet or something. She's a girl, if you ask the right questions she'll just tell you what she wants." EJ insisted, another sigh threatening to escape him.

"Just yesterday she told me to take the stick out of my ass!" Jeff exclaimed in exasperation. "What's that even supposed to mean?"

The sigh escaped him. "Do I want to know?" Jack asked, feeling uneasy.

"Knowing Jane, probably not." Jeff admitted. After a moment of silence, he asked, "How am I supposed to talk to her if she thinks I'm the bad guy?"

 _Finally, he's making sense!_ "Jeff, if you were keeping her from doing something actually harmful, chances are, she was already fighting herself about it, you just happened to be there. And as much as I hate to say it, you aren't the bad guy, I guarantee it."

"So what you're saying is…" There was a moment's pause. "That it's not my fault but it's Jane's."

EJ smacked his palm against his face and fought yet another sigh. "No, it's not her fault! Even if it was you can't say that. Sometimes, all a girl wants to hear is that you'd let her do whatever she wants to do if it was up to you."

"I hate you sometimes." Jeff muttered. The tub groaned softly as it bore the weight of Jeff once again. "I've sat here getting cold for forever just for you to give me a solution that won't work. Clearly, you've never met Jane, or any girl in that matter."

"Clearly, you haven't either." Jack pointed out wryly.

"Hey Jack," EJ could hear Jeff smirk. "This is my thanks to you."

"I'm guessing you just flipped me off?" He asked dryly.

"Good guess!" Jeff clapped sarcastically.

"You know, if you don't want my advice, that's your problem." EJ muttered, slipping off the counter and walking towards the door. "When she dumps you for good, I'm expecting you to beg before I help you again."

"Whatever." Jeff replied, getting out of the tub. "Hey EJ, can I borrow that cot you've got? I'm still kind of tired."

With what he hoped would be the last sigh of the day, EJ said, "Don't make any noise getting it set up." He walked out the door, closing it behind him.

* * *

 _Bean_

Bean lay sprawled on her bed, still in roughly the same position Slenderman had left her.

She hadn't slept at all.

Not surprising considering what had happened but still, she hadn't moved. Her wings were splayed out under her, no effort to conceal them having been made. Somewhere on the roof was her hoodie so she probably wasn't going to ever get that back. None of this mattered of course but she was aware of it all the same.

He'd _saved_ her, why had he saved her? He was a killer, he didn't care, he was just playing with her but…

But what? He'd suddenly gone and proved the very thing he'd been trying to tell her, that he wasn't going to kill her?

Where did that leave her?

Bean blinked slowly, eyes sticky with sleeplessness. She turned her head sideways, staring at the empty bed opposite her blankly. The thought of Spectra saddened her, but she didn't cry. She was done crying.

So she'd lost her best friend and gained… A monster? A humanoid creature, who cared?

She could still feel the plummeting drop and her abrupt halt as he'd stopped her fall. Probably she should be furious but was she? Not really, she wasn't feeling much of anything right about now. She wasn't sure if she knew what she was supposed to be feeling about the situation.

 _If only Spectra…_ No, Spectra had left her. Would she ever forgive Bean? Well, she wasn't sure of that either. However, there was one thing Bean could be sure of. Spectra was upstairs and probably still upset.

 _I should… talk to her. I've… got to…_ Bean felt her brain struggle to form a complete thought and sighed. She was too tired for this but too awake to sleep.

"Screw it." She mumbled, stumbling to her feet. Numbly, she fluttered her useless wings and almost fell over as they tried to move her. Slenderman had meant well, that much she was sure of, but he was ultimately wrong. She _wouldn't_ fly.

Couldn't if she wanted the other girls to ever speak to her again.

Carefully, she folded her wings up and slipped on a hoodie. The last hoodie she'd brought, she realized with a whince. _Maybe Slenderman will give my old one back or something…_ She mused as she shuffled towards her door.

No one seemed to be awake yet in the house. It still being early, it was completely silent save for the odd creak and groan of the building itself settling. Bean noted that instead of being peaceful, the quiet was eerie, damning even.

Slowly, she walked up the stairs, her feet hardly making a sound as they carried her towards Spectra. She knew, or rather suspected, that Spectra was awake as well, even though she hadn't come downstairs.

How Spectra had been able to sleep in the room of two dead girls was beyond Bean.

As the door loomed before her, Bean peered up at it, wondering if she was only walking into another fight. God, she hoped not. She was sick of fighting with Spectra.

"If you're going to try and kill me, the door's unlocked. I'm not going to get up to open it for you." Spectra called from inside, just as Bean raised her hand to knock.

Slowly, Bean opened the door, pushing it in to find her friend sitting on her bed, completely still, staring straight ahead. "I just wanted to talk." She whispered.

Spectra let out a sigh of relief, but still kept her eyes away from Bean's. "This is not a good time."

"You do know there's never going to be a _good time_ right?" Bean asked, voice soft yet solid. Spectra's eyes snapped towards Bean.

Thinking about it for a moment, she noded. "Okay, you can come in. Watch the salt line."

 _Salt line…_ Bean looked down and carefully stepped over the white line and moved to sit on the edge of Taylor's old bed. "Spectra… are you…"

Throughout her entrance, Spectra's sight didn't leave Bean. "First things first," She raised a glass of water and handed it to Bean. "Drink it."

"Okay…" Bean got up again and walked over to where her friend sat. Carefully she took the glass and drank a few sips. "Um… Thanks… I think…" Slowly, she handed the glass back and moved to sit on Taylor's bed again.

"It wasn't for you, it was for me. I had to be sure." She got up and walked towards the window, adjusting the line of salt in front of the glass barrier.

Bean watched her friend nervously. Spectra had always been a mouse so a little paranoia could be expected but there was something about the way she was acting that didn't fit. She was too calm, too steady, too in control. For a moment, she wondered if she should ask what was wrong but decided against it. Chances were, she wouldn't answer.

"What do you know about demons, Bean?" Spectra suddenly asked from out of nowhere.

Bean's heart stumbled. _More than I want to_ , _more than I can tell you._ "Not much. I mean, they're from hell and they're evil and they fight against good-"

"That's enough." Spectra turned around, their eyes meeting each others once again. "Do you believe in the devil?"

 _Unfortunately, yes._ Bean shrugged and muttered, "I guess I do." When Spectra said nothing, Bean uncomfortably asked, "Do you?"

"I do actually. Sometimes I think I see him too. In the eyes of the most wicked." Taking steps away from the window, Bean watched as Spectra started walking back and forth around the room. "Last night, I encountered one of his minions."

She couldn't begin to imagine who Spectra was talking about. Bean was silent as she wondered if Slenderman was a demon. If he was, did that make the other killers demons as well?

"It knew about me, my past, my sins." She suddenly stopped, staring outside the opened door. Bean saw the heavy gulp travel down her slender neck. "However, he only _thought_ he knew me, but he didn't, not _me_." Walking towards the door, Spectra closed it. "Do you get what I'm saying?"

"I… He didn't know _you_?" Bean tried, not wanting to say something wrong and upset her companion.

"Exactly!" Taking a seat next to her, staring into her eyes, she wickedly smirked. "Don't you see, they want us to be afraid. They think they can weaken us with fear. But the truth is, they're no different from you and me."

 _This coming from the most fearful girl here…_ _She's snapped._ "I guess not." Bean looked away, trying to think of how to bring up Slenderman.

"Listen to me, that monster that came to you, he's not going to kill you, at least not now." Spectra seemed delighted by her revelation. "He wants to break you, that's his method, all of them. The first ones died because they were terrified as hell. That's their secret. They want us to be afraid."

"I don't think he's going to kill me." Bean said softly. "I think he cares about me. I think you just want him to be the bad guy." She still couldn't meet her friend's eyes.

Spectra flicked Bean's forehead and angrily admonished her, "He _doesn't._ Did you hear what I said. He needs to break you in order to kill you, all of them. Taylor, Mackenzie, Catherine, they were all afraid and destroyed, that's why they were killed."

"But you don't know that. You didn't encounter him last night." Bean said softly. "Because I was with him."

"And what did he do?" Spectra asked, getting up from the bed once again.

"He brought me to the roof." Bean whispered, eyes growing distant as she relived what had happened once again.

"Didn't you used to have a fear of heights?" Spectra pointed out, raising her finger.

 _Only because the last time I stood on a roof, I was contemplating jumping off it._ Bean could still feel her father's hands as he shoved her onto the roof and hear him yelling at her to just jump and do everyone else a favor. "Maybe."

"You see? They only know about what they could get their hands on. He knew you'd be terrified on the roof that's why he took you there." Spectra added, raising another finger.

"I wasn't scared." It wasn't a total lie, she hadn't been scared of the height, she'd been scared of what he was asking her to do.

"Which explains why he didn't kill you." Spectra turned around, wide eyes gazing at Bean. "What makes you special Bean? There must be something about you that kept this friend of yours coming to see you over and over again."

"I-" Bean bit her lip as she realized how close her friend was to the truth. "I wasn't scared of him."

"What?" Spectra was suddenly startled.

"What?" Bean asked, looking around nervously.

Taking a few moments to calm down, Spectra took a few deep breaths before looking at Bean. "I don't have much time. Bean, I don't trust you, but at the same time I don't want you to die. I can't be your friend again, but I'll stick by you so we could both survive, but that's it."

It wasn't what she'd hoped, far from it, but Bean knew it was more than she deserved. "I'm not going to stop talking to the monster. I still don't think he'll kill me."

"Okay, but you need to defend yourself." Grabbing the salt shaker from her nightstand, she handed it to Bean. "Draw a line in front of your door and window. Do you have a cross?"

Bean touched her neck and felt the fine chain under her fingers. _My last link to my_ real _home._ "Yeah."

"Good, I'll come down later and help you to make holy water." Snapping her fingers, Spectra rushed to the other side of the room and grabbed a fire iron. "Iron is deadly against spirits and ghost. You'll need to keep it with you all the time."

Bean slid off Taylor's bed and accepted it, all the while wondering how many screws Spectra had managed to lose under her bed last night. "Thanks..."

"You should go now, or she'll get ideas, _terrible_ ideas."

 _She?_ Slowly backing away from her friend, Bean smiled, or at least attempted to. "Okay, sorry if I disturbed you or anything. Thanks for everything Spec."

"Watch the salt line." Spectra reminded her, eyes still fixed on the nervous Bean.

Carefully stepping over said line, Bean backed out Spectra's door and closed it behind her before taking a deep breath. So Spectra was probably crazy, well so was Bean. At least she seemed to be willing to work with her.

 _But she doesn't trust me._

Bean knew that she probably never would again. It would take a miracle to fix the relationship they used to have. She wasn't a miracle worker.

 _If you just tell her the truth…_ Her brain suggested softly, making her tighten her grip on the fire iron. It was a stupid idea, definitely, but then again, she was out of options.

Slowly, she walked away from Spectra's door, listening to her friend mutter to herself all the way.

 _I must be losing my mind too…_

* * *

 **A/N: So, *yawns* That was fun. Still awake there IDG?**

 **IDG: Zzzzz… kill all humans… zzzzz…**

 **Q: *looks over uncertainly* Well, can you hardly blame him? It's what, four in the morning where he's from? Six? He's been up all night.**

 **IDG: Zzzzz… make Q pay… zzzzz… she betrayed you...**

 **Q: *Laughs nervously* He'll be fine in the morning. I think…**

 **IDG: Zzzzz… car trunk… duct tape… burial in the desert...**

 **Q: Well… I think I'd better go. I'd rather not die. Until next time (if I survive) bye bye!**

 **IDG: Zzzzz… 5 bucks… she needs to pay...**


	19. Mended Fences

**A/N: I HAVE RETURNED! Mwahahahaha! But seriously, school sucks. If I had a minute of freedom for every time school got in the way of life, I'd have finished this story by now. As it is… *sighs* I haven't updated in forever. Sorry. Again.**

 **IDG: *Shakes head and tsks in disappointment***

 **Q: *bows head in shame***

 **IDG: Guys, what miss 'I'm a f*cking screw up' is trying to say is that our schedule from one chapter per two weeks is dropping down to one chapter and a half per month or so. So be patient.**

 **Q: From here on out though, I'll do the best that I can! Enjoy!**

 _Zero_

Yawning, Zero turned over, then remembered she had fallen asleep on the sofa again. Muffling her own cry of surprise at her fall, she sat up off the floor and blinked sleepily at the fire place, which still held some smoldering embers, white-ish against the deep greys of the rest of the hearth.

"It's tacky to fall asleep in a public room." The Bloody Painter groused as he looked up from the canvas he had set up in the corner. "Not that I'd expect anything _less_ from someone like you."

"What time is it?" She muttered, dazedly rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"It's not that early, but, you know how everyone is when it comes to mornings." Painter answered with a sigh. "Don't go back to sleep here!" He yelped as she lay back down on the floor.

With a discontented sound, Zero slowly got to her feet, stretching as she loftily said, "Fine, I'll leave." If she was lucky she could sleep another hour before breakfast.

Wobbling slightly, she shuffled from the room and headed up the stairs, mumbling under her breath about how Painter wasn't much of a morning person himself. The mansion felt nice at this time of the day. No one was awake enough to foul up the air with all the unspoken unease she'd been feeling recently.

It was almost happy.

"Is that maybe why y'left me? 'cause I became boring an' useless t' you?"

Well that didn't sound happy.

Lifting her head up slightly on her limp neck, Zero peered curiously at the door she was outside of. That had been Jane's voice, possibly. Probably more alcohol than person if Zero was any judge though.

"Oh tha's right, I left _you_ , didn't I? I dunno…"

 _Well I can't just leave her there, right?_

Tentatively, Zero tried the doorknob and was gratified to find it unlocked. Slowly, not really wanting to disturb the drunk, and most likely distraught girl inside, Zero pushed the door in just enough to poke her head through. She was met with bottles. Lots and lots of bottles.

Oh, and a lump that _might_ have been Jane.

" 's all your fault anyway… Y'could've been _nicer_ t'me."

"Hey, there princess." Zero greeted in a soft and awkward tone, not sure how to do this without interrupting Jane but wishing immediately she could. "Are you… Are you drinking at sevenish in the morning?"

The lump moved and a head seemed to grow from it, or at least it tried to before softly hitting the floor again with a _thump_. "Jeff, di'you leave me b'cause I was boring, an' old?"

"Uh, I'm not Jeff…" Zero corrected, wincing as she pushed the door open further and knocked several empty bottles over in the process. "You do realize you might get seriously sick, drinking this much."

"Who're you, if you aren't _Jeff_?" Jane asked, her voice muffled by the blanket she had dragged off her bed and buried herself in. "Wai'no, don't tell me. You're… Hoodie!"

"You know, maybe it would be better if you-"

"No, Clocky!" Jane guessed again, a hand protruding from the folds of her cave to point sloppily in the air.

"Jane, I really think-"

"Sally?" Jane's hand flopped to the floor as if all the bones had been removed from it.

Carefully stepping into the room and closing the door behind her, Zero recoiled from the stench of alcohol and encouragingly answered, "Close, it's actually Zero."

"Oh…" the lump mumbled as Zero stepped past the first ring of bottles and tried to see a way past the second. "I would've guessed'at… next…"

"I'm sure." Hopping her way over to Jane's rumpled bed, Zero gratefully sat down, toeing a tipped bottle out of the way and watching as some left over wine dribbled out. "Um, silly question but, are you… okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Jane's head emerged from the mound of blankets and it turned to give her a smile, a very odd smile. "I'm 'ere with my new boyfriend…" She paused for a second to look at the label on the wine. "Dom... Perei? Perry? I donn' speak French… But we don't need words baby… We're in looove..."

"A little early for wine, don't you think?" Zero asked uncertainly, leaning over and picking up a half drunk bottle. Sniffing the contents she leaned away and gagged.

Jane smashed her fist against the digital clock next to her circle of misery and manually turned the time to five o'clock. "No' anymore."

"Jane, I'm pretty sure this one's vinegar." Zero insisted in slight alarm.

"Wassthat?" Jane slurred. Looking back at the bottle she held, Jane tipped what was left down her throat and smiled crookedly. "It all tastes the same af'er the fir _st_ _bottle_."

"And this is all about…" Zero questioned slowly, waving her hands over the mess before her.

"I don't need Jeff! I have all the love I need here." Jane's head lolled on her neck and she slumped back to the floor, still cradling her empty bottle like a teddy bear.

"I didn't say you needed him in the first place." Zero pointed out reasonably, unsure what else to say.

"I mean, who th' _hell_ does 'e think 'e is?" Jane took another sip from the empty wine bottle, only to be met with flavoured air. "He'ws slowin' me down anyways."

Zero kept quiet and let Jane do all the talking. Maybe after a while of rambling she might get to the bottom of of this mess on her own. It would be preferable anyways, Zero didn't exactly have any stellar relationship advice to give.

"I don'need him telling me what to do, with that _gorgeous_ face." Jane growled, only to end on a whine.

"Uhh.." Zero tried for a smile and ended up just looking lost.

"Or the times where 'e would grab me and we'd make sweet love together inna mos' exciting spots ou'there. Seriously, one time he jus' grabbed m'arm and pinned me t'the wall and started kissing me." Jane let out a heavy hiccup, almost filling the entire room with the disgusting scent of rancid alcohol. "And to answer your question, yes, ittwas. Ittwas _very_ hot."

"Didn't actually ask." Zero muttered, setting down the vinegar bottle and picking up a different one, this one still full of an expensive wine that Slenderman would no doubt have _killed_ Jane for drinking.

"And lemme tell you 'bout or' anniversary…"

"Do I have to?" Zero whined, pouting when Jane raised her head to glare at the small girl.

" 'top complaining Je _ff_." Jane pointed her finger at Zero and it wavered dramatically. "Yo'r th' one who dr _ugge_ d me and tied me up. But, f'r your sake, I _loved_ it."

"Again, not Jeff."

"Why'd I always do shit f'r 'im anyway?" Jane asked loudly, thumping her fist on the floor and scattering bottles in every direction. "All 'e ever did wa'say _he_ _love_ d me…"

"I don't actually-"

"But 'e _did_ Clocky." Jane whispered, nodding sadly and sniffling loudly. " 'e really did! An'no one else cared but," She hiccuped violently. " 'e did…"

Zero was silent for a minute before slowly saying, "No one ever loved me."

"THIS ISN'T 'BOUT YOU MARY!" Jane hollered, licking the rim of the bottle she held before shoving it out of her protective cave of covers.

"I'm just saying," Zero tried again. "That if I _knew_ someone loved me, I wouldn't be so quick to throw them away."

"But'e, he wouldn't let me do _anything_ I wanted Sally." Jane complained, voice a warble. "I jus' wanna be on top, at least once."

Zero screwed her eyes shut in disgust. "Please don't _actually_ say things like that to Sally. I don't care how drunk you are."

" 's'not like _you_ would un'nerstand _Zero_." Jane spat, eyes clearing for a moment before clouding over again.

"No, I wouldn't." Zero admitted. "You're really lucky Jane, I just wish you could see _how_ fortunate you really are without drinking all night."

" 'm not _lucky_. My life sucked…" Jane hissed, struggling into an upright position only to collapse in a new direction. "All I 'ave is friends, money, reputation, boys worshipping me... I'm all alone, I have _nothing_. Except for my wine, that's still full."

Zero smartly popped off the bed and snatched the bottle Jane was reaching for up, holding it out of reach. "I think you need to first, sober up, and second, take a good long look at the choices you've made in the last few days that led you up to this point."

"You act'lly sound _smart_ f'r once Shirly." Jane squinted up at her. " 'r is it Billy."

"Zero." Zero muttered halfheartedly as she stooped to collect a few more bottles from the floor. "And thanks. I think."

"But y'know, 'm still _really_ pissed a' Jeff." Jane mused drunkenly. "Really wanna… kill'im."

"You've always wanted to do that." Zero commented dryly.

" 'nd still wanna have sex with 'im too. Maybe 'is corpse."

"Okay, ew, even _I_ haven't gone _that_ far." Zero said with a shudder as she set the gathered wine bottles on the table Jane had in the corner of her room. "Why don't you just make up with Jeff instead?" she suggested brightly.

"But I don' wanna." Jane whimpered, trying unsuccessfully to reach for the bottle of vinegar Zero had left by the bed. "I wanna… 'ave a fight." She collapsed to the floor. "An' then 'ave _sex._ "

"Why am I not surprised." Zero muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Ooh OOH! I know!" Jane announced, face mushed mostly against the floor. " 'cause you're _psychic!_ "

"Eh, we can go with that." Zero said, sweeping up some more remains of Jane's drinking into her arms and depositing them on the table.

"But Hoodie, I _really_ wan'im to… _talk_ to me." Jane mumbled, fingers scrabbling at the sheets of her bed in an effort to pick herself up. "Y'know? Like, say _words_ , then 'ave sex."

"I'm sure he'd love to hear some words from you too." Zero muttered sarcastically. "You know, if they were intelligible."

"I make _perfect_ sense." Jane said proudly, at last managing to sit upright with the help of her bed.

"Sure you do."

"An' d'you _promise_ he'll fuck me af'er apologizing?" Jane insisted stubbornly.

"Totally." Zero assured her, picking up the last of the bottles and putting them on the table, taking a moment to stare in horror at just how much Jane had really drunk.

"Hey," Jane mumbled, voice vaguely conveying suspicion. "You're not EJ. Y're _Zero._ "

"Good job!" Zero said, glad to see her friend regaining some semblance of sense.

"You _lied_ t'me Joey!" Jane hissed furiously.

Never mind.

"I'm going to go back downstairs." Skipping across Jane's now clean- _ish_ room, Zero turned the doorknob and quickly added, "Don't drink _anything_ other than water, understand?"

"Fine, f _in_ e." Jane whined. "Y'so _mean_ Shirly…"

Exiting the room, Zero gratefully closed the door behind her, suddenly very exhausted. "I'm really not a therapist." She muttered, slouching against the wall and taking a few deep breaths.

Hopefully, Jane could solve her own problems.

Maybe.

"EJ! I can't find Dom what's his face."

Or not.

* * *

 _Masky_

Completely silent, Masky watched the dusty grey of the forest brighten to a more gloomy glow. He'd observed this ritual of watching the morning since he'd come to live here all those years ago. It was peaceful out here, you couldn't hear the other Pastas arguing or feel the unspoken words bubbling beneath the surface, all there was to be seen were trees.

And some more trees.

And if he looked this way, he would see Sally, watering her garden of teeth in the hopes they would sprout humans someday.

And if he turned right, Hoodie would be-

Oh yeah…

Sighing, he let his forehead rest against his knees for a moment. This wasn't the first time they had fought, but that didn't make it any easier. Everything had just… escalated so fast.

It was probably his fault, looking back on it. After all, Hoodie had been the perfect little proxy as always, insisting that their master couldn't possibly be wrong. He'd been loyal as ever while Masky had been basically talking treason. Of course Hoodie would be upset.

That was the kind of person he was. Masky _knew_ that.

So why had he made such an ass of himself?

It must have something to do with all the bad energy swirling around the mansion. He was usually so in tune with Hoodie, but all the tension had thrown him off his game. Now he was sitting here alone, still stuck with a killer headache and no fucking idea what to do.

He hadn't even _seen_ the hooded proxy yesterday. Not that he'd been looking but usually Hoodie and he were joined at the hip.

Ever since arriving at the mansion they were inseparable. At first it had been because they were nervous and new to the whole CP business but they'd stuck together since because…

They needed to be? Because it felt right after so long? Masky wasn't even sure when it had become more than just 'friends', it hadn't really mattered. All he knew was that it hurt to turn to say something and find Hoodie, his friend, boyfriend, partner, whatever you wanted to call him, just… gone.

And here he sat, struggling to think of _something_ that would make this situation less shitty. Maybe even something to fix it. Just because they didn't agree on this one issue didn't mean Masky and Hoodie couldn't work through Slenderman's problems together, right?

He tiredly wondered if there was any alcohol left in the basement after he'd caught Jane pillaging it. Bloody Mary's were breakfast food, right? He was pretty sure he'd read that somewhere...

From his right came the muffled, yet still shrill sounds of a window being opened and the crackling thumps as someone clambered out onto the roof.

"Hey." The voice that met Masky's ears made him freeze. "Mind if I sit?"

He didn't answer, wasn't sure how to respond to Hoodie's question in the first place, probably _couldn't'_ have answered, even if he wanted to. Masky just sat there, listening to the calm breathing of his partner as it echoed in the silent space between them.

 _I've got to apologize._ He thought desperately. Anything to make things right, however superficial the fix may be. "Hoodie, I-"

"Can it." Hoodie said softly, staring out at the trees. "I don't need your 'sorrys'."

Masky couldn't help but feel a bit pissed at Hoodie's obstinance. Just because he was angry didn't mean he had to act like a child. Turning to face him, Masky growled, "Tough, because I need to say it."

" _I_ don't want to hear it!" Hoodie snapped back, head swiveling to face Masky. Without his ski-mask on, the hooded proxy looked… vulnerable somehow. Laid bare. It caught him off guard. "I didn't come here so you could spew meaningless garbage at me!"

"What the fuck makes you think it's meaningless?" Masky roared back, not only angry but also hurt. After so long together, sharing the same space and having the same thoughts, it was like he was looking at a stranger. Why was Hoodie acting like this?

 _Fuck this game. Fuck Slenderman's problems. Fuck all of it._

"Because you don't even know what you're apologizing for!" Hoodie yelled in return, eyes pleading. "Come on Masky, I know you better than you're giving me credit for."

"So what?" Masky hissed. "It would be better than how you're acting right now. At least I care enough to try and fix things!"

Hoodie fell silent and turned away, pulling his hood up farther over his face. Masky felt a momentary swell of triumph before the guilt overwhelmed it. What the fuck was he doing? One second he'd wanted to apologize, the next, they were arguing.

"We're doing it again." Hoodie mumbled, drawing his knees up to his chest and putting his face in his arms. "Fighting."

Biting back the urge to make a sarcastic comment in return, Masky looked away and muttered, "Yeah."

Once more the silence stretched between the two of them, lengthening and settling slowly, like sediment. Gradually, it returned to the chill peace that usually encased the mansion. The realization only made Masky feel worse. All this calm and he could only destroy it.

"You know, I came out here to talk." Hoodie said softly. "I just- I just hoped we could make things better or something but…" he flailed helplessly for a few seconds before Masky finished his sentence.

"It all went to shit?"

"Pretty much." Hoodie agreed miserably. Masky hated to hear the pain in his partner's voice, but he had no idea what he was supposed to say to make it better.

"I guess I should have known you'd take Slenderman's side the other night." Masky said at last, looking up into the tangle of branches above the house and sighing. "You always do, I should know that by now."

"And I should have known you'd find all the problems with what he's doing and bring them up." Hoodie returned softly. "Because that's what _you_ always do."

"Doesn't really solve our problem though." Masky grumbled, still unable to look at Hoodie. "We're right where we started and what have we gained? Nothing."

"The migraines have gotten marginally better." Hoodie pointed out reasonably.

"My head is killing me right now." Masky deadpanned, unimpressed.

"I said marginally."

They both fell silent once more, each wondering how best to approach the topic at hand and neither willing to take the first step and chance screwing up.

Finally, Masky awkwardly started, "So…" before trailing off again uncertainly.

"Slenderman." Hoodie suggested, a sad smile in his voice.

"Yeah, I kind of noticed the weird energy." Masky offered, biting into his bottom lip. "So was I right?"

"More or less." Hoodie agreed. "It's Slenderman."

Masky couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh. "So I was right."

"As much as I hate to admit it, you were." Hoodie let out his own despondent chuckle. "You always were."

"Crazy that it blew up like that though." Masky murmured, staring at the tree line intently as if it held the answers to all his current problems. "I feel… isolated, you know?"

As if going against his better judgement, Hoodie faltered before agreeing, "Yeah, he's shut us off."

"It's weird not knowing what's going on." Masky said, running his fingers through his hair with a nervous laugh. "I feel like I'm a human or something, only handling my own thoughts and not hearing your thoughts or Slenderman's."

"Don't forget Toby." Hoodie said, clearly smiling.

"Eh, he's a twitchy little fuck, he doesn't count." Masky joked. "But seriously, how can you stand it?"

Hoodie didn't answer, he just coughed nervously and shifted back and forth.

"What's up?" Masky asked, eyebrows knitting together as the unease he had thought was gone returned. It was all giving him the awful feeling like there was something he should know, but didn't."

Letting out a difficult and heavy sigh, Hoodie seemed to force the words out of his mouth. "That night, I went into his office. And I discovered the… the truth."

After waiting several moments and receiving no response, Masky prompted,"Well? Aren't you gonna tell me?"

"I can't." Hoodie simply replied with unease in his tone. "I promised the boss."

Masky didn't say anything for several long seconds. He knew there wasn't anything he could do about it but still, the idea that his partner was keeping secrets from him, no matter how many orders he'd been given to do so, stung. Even so, Masky finally cleared his throat and muttered, "Yeah. I figured as much."

"I wanted to tell you." Hoodie insisted, at last turning to face him. "But…"

"No, no, I get it. Rules are rules. He's the boss after all, no matter how crazy he acts." Masky couldn't keep the sour note out of his voice, no matter how hard he tried.

"That doesn't sound like acceptance to me." Hoodie said softly, inching closer on the roof.

"I didn't say it was. I just said that breaking the rules isn't your thing, and I respect that. Doesn't mean I respect the boss's choice of hiding it from his _own_ proxies." Masky scoffed, irritated. Turning towards Hoodie, he smiled, even though it felt slightly forced. "I'll get over it though. Probably."

Hoodie smiled gratefully. "Thanks, I guess."

They were both silent for another second before a yell of, "Who are you and what did you do to Dom Peri's his face!" echoed through the mansion behind them.

"Time for breakfast?" Masky asked, wincing as his eardrums popped.

Hoodie chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

* * *

 _Jeff_

 _Smash!_

"Watch it. That only missed by a mile." Jeff commented dryly as the badly aimed projectile, a bottle, shattered against the hallway outside the door instead of the wall he was leaning against. Glittering as they fell, the jagged pieces joined the rest of their brethren in a mess on the floor, at least ten feet away from Jeff. If Jane had been just a little more sober, she would've easily hit Jeff in the face.

This was clearly going to be one of the few times Jeff was glad she was hammered.

"Who are you and what did you do to Dom Peri's his face?" Jane shrieked, staggering to her feet, a knife loosely held in her shaking grip.

Closing the door, Jeff turned to look at her. "Again, it's me sunshine. Don't you recognize my voice?" he replied, feeling a little hurt. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours!

Jane's empty hand latched onto another empty bottle, gripping its neck tightly. "I don't need Jehovah's witness in front of my door. Leave!"

"I wish. Maybe Jesus would've knocked some sense into you." Jeff muttered, tilting his head as the bottle flew past him. "That's my face you're aiming for princess."

"Don't call me princess. Only he gets to call me that." Tightening the grip on her knife Jane lurched forward till she was only a few feet away from Jeff. What she didn't realize was that she was holding the blade instead of the handle. The razor sharp edge dug into her delicate palm, dripping her blood onto the floor. "I have a knife and I'm not afraid to use it."

Much to Jeff's amusement, she pointed the handle in front of his face. "Come on Janey, put it down before you hurt yourself."

" _You_ hurt me, Berry!" Jane yelled. "If _he_ was here, he wouldn't be _mocking_ me." her bottom lip trembled slightly. "I miss him."

"God you're drunk." Jeff muttered, carefully reaching for Jane's knife and attempting to pry her fingers loose. "And I don't mean sexy drunk or scary drunk. This is sad drunk."

"Shut up, Wesley!" Jane screamed, weakly fighting Jeff as he pulled the knife from her grasp and wiped the blood off. "You have _no idea_ what I'm going through."

"I kind of have an idea. Seeing how we always end up naked somewhere after having these episodes." Jeff replied, holding Jane's weak wrist as it twisted, spreading blood over his own hand. "I mean, this is us right?"

"It's not!" Attempting to pull away, Jane only succeeded in losing her balance, tumbling her into Jeff's arms. "I don't wanna! I wanna… uh…" She looked into his eyes desperately, anger and sadness mixing in her own.

With a sigh, Jeff chuckled. "Just leave it all to me Janey." Jeff smoothed her palm out and looked at the deep cut in Jane's hand. With the skin stretched, the blood started running down her arm and onto Jeff's hoodie, staining it red. "You're bleeding Sunshine."

"So what? You can't tell me when I can bleed or not, you're not my mom." Jane mumbled, the words barely audible to Jeff.

Jeff smirk and pulled her injured hand towards his lips, kissing it. Tasting the metallic liquid as it ran down his throat, he rumbled in approval. If there was one thing Jeff knew more than killing, that was arousing Jane.

Jane bit down on her bottom lips, trying to hide her moans. "S-stop it Jeff." She hissed, writhing and trying to twist out of his grip. Jeff paid her words no mind, slowly kissing and biting his way up her arm, all the while watching her with his dark eyes.

Too bad he didn't see her fist coming for his face.

"Ow, shit!" Jeff backed up, rubbing his jaw. She'd given him worse, much worse, but he hadn't been expecting it.

"Don't touch me." She venomously hissed at him, pulling her hand away. "You don't get to touch me anymore."

The pain on his jaw quickly vanished, the same could not be said to his smirk. "Princess, I didn't know you liked foreplay this rough."

Jane's cheeks burned deep red as her senses slowly returned to her. "D-don't change the subject you bastard."

Seeing how he still had her knife, Jeff made his way towards her, not bothering with her pointless threats. Even though Jane was becoming aware of what was going on around her, she clearly didn't have all her physical faculties back yet. She wouldn't stand a chance against him drunk, and more so with no weapon. The only thing she could do was step back, hoping to put as much as distance between them.

It wasn't long until her back hit the plaster wall, trapping her. Jeff placed a hand next to her against the wall, cutting off her means of escape.

"What do you want Janey?" He teased, trailing the tip of her knife down her throat and watching with delight as it bobbed with her adams apple.

Jane's eyes flickered nervously between Jeff's eyes. Seemingly unable to form words, her mouth kept mouthing nonsense as his grin widened. "I just… wanna… talk." she whispered.

"Is that so?" Jeff's hungry eyes snaked down her body. Leaning closer to her ear, he hissed, "What do you want me to say Janey, hm?"

"N-not that kind of talk." She managed, the words a soft and quiet plea. He could feel the shivers run down her spine as he lowered his head to her collar and let out a breathy laugh against her skin.

"C'mon Princess, I know you can use your words," he baited, flicking his tongue along her neck and enjoying the whimpers that followed.

"P-please Jeffrey," Jane whispered, tone hinged in desperation. "I-I'm drunk, please stop." Pulling back slightly, Jeff was surprised to see tears brimming in her eyes. She attempted to glare at him anyway, putting as much fervor into the expression as she could manage.

Jeff sighed, sobering slightly at the sight of Jane, pinned to the wall and dead drunk, yet still determined to put up a fight till the end. Vaguely remembering what EJ had said to him last night, Jeff scowled and said, "Lemme guess, you're still upset with me."

Jane nodded, a pout forming on her lips.

With another sigh, Jeff picked her up and carried her over to the bed, where he deposited her. Dropping to sit next to her, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "You want an apology don't you."

"N-no, I mean, yes… Um… I don't know." Jane let out an agonized whimper, not sure of what she wanted anymore.

Jeff smirked and pulled Jane upright, propping her up against his side. "Look, I'm sorry for being the bad guy sunshine." _What else did EJ say?_ He wondered, unable to keep himself from panicking slightly.

"I-it's not about that. I'm sorry too. I acted like a bitch." Jane looked down at her folded hands that were buried between her legs. "I started it."

Jeff relaxed and, grinning, said, "No you didn't." Stretching out an arm, he wrapped it around her and pulled her closer towards him. "I started the game, it's my fault."

"But…" Jane was interrupted as Jeff placed his finger on her lips.

"No buts." Smirking, he glanced down at her lower body. _Okay, maybe yours._

"Sorry for breaking up with you." Jane mumbled, sounding ashamed. "You just _really_ piss me off sometimes."

"That's my job." He assured her, running a finger through her hair as he spoke. "And I'll admit it, you're hot when you're pissed off."

"You ass." She complained, shoving against him weakly and giggling when he kissed the top of her head.

"I prefer yours." he teased, pulling her onto his lap so he could kiss her properly. "How about this." He suggested. "Tonight, let's kill that Emily bitch together and then we can put this whole game behind us. Deal?"

Jane let out a playful giggle. "You're treating me like a queen, it's embarrassing." She tried to hide the red flush on her cheeks, but to no avail.

"Naw, you're more of a fox." Jeff said with a scoff. "Dangerous, but _very_ sexy."

"Please stop, it's too much." Jane bit down on her lip to stifle a giggle.

Pushing her back on the bed, Jeff loomed over her and devilishly asked, "You sure it's too much? Because, I can say more." He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "You did say you wanted to _talk_ after all."

Jane looked at him very seriously and said, "Jeff, I'm still very mad at you. Because of you, I've been in dead heat with no one left to touch me. So I want to you take off your clothes and stick that knife of yours into me. Got that?"

"Sex?" Jeff asked, unable to follow what his girlfriend had just said. "Jane, I don't think it's wise for us to do that with you in this state. You've consumed so much alcohol."

Groaning desperately, Jane turned them over and pinned Jeff on the bed. "Less talk, more fucking."

"Fine fine, if you insist." Jeff said with a smirk.

Who needs breakfast anyway?

* * *

 **A/N: HA! See, no hate sex!**

 **IDG: Give it time. At some point those two would be humping more than two heated rabbits during rutting season.**

 **Q: *Shudders* I'm going to pretend you didn't say that.**

 **IDG: Try to enjoy it while it lasts, for soon you'll be seeing it.**

 **Q: To answer a question posed to us via the lovely commenters-**

 **IDG: Reviewers.**

 **Q: Yes, Sally can read the comments. And the script. And my failed attempts at humor…**

 **IDG: Ha! If they even deserve to be called attempts.**

 **Q: Says the person who… who… Comes up with all the humor for this story, I'm such a failure.**

 **IDG: Yes you are.**


	20. Decisive Actions

**A/N: So, middle of the night, no IDG in sight… LET THERE BE WORDS!**

 **Because I word real good when tired.**

 **Meow.**

 **Also, Happy Birthday Lilypad! Don't worry, no matter how hopeless it seems I will always continue this story. Because it's my child.**

 **As always, enjoy.**

 _Sally_

Most creatures of the Underworld respected Slenderman. He was relatively important and commanded a certain degree of formality. It came too from the fact that he was more _powerful_ than most. Even if you didn't know where he stood you knew enough to back away because he exuded such an imposing aura.

Because of this, it was a mystery to most how Sally, a girl of about seven, had the nerve to simply waltz up to his office door, while her house mates threw food at each other downstairs, without a whit of concern for the consequences. She _appeared_ powerless in the face of Slenderman.

Of course, she _wasn't._

Sally didn't bother knocking on the large oak door, she simply stared at it coolly and it swung open obediently.

"Since when did my home begin responding to you in such a manner, my dear Sally?" Slenderman mused softly from the window behind his desk. As it had tended to in recent days, the weather outside was dismal and threatening rain. For whatever odd reason he'd settled on, Slenderman found the scene enthralling.

"You know it wouldn't dare _not_ listen," Sally said sweetly, her tone not quite matching her words. "It's got more sense than that Slendy."

"Hmm," was the only response her words prompted from the mysterious killer. Sweeping her eyes over the patriarchal figure of the mansion, Sally caught sight of draping dark blue fabric. Instantly, her eyes narrowed.

"Still hung up on her," Sally grumbled, stepping forward into the office and allowing the door to close behind her. "Don't you have something better to do?" Taking several prim paces, Sally, with an almost put-upon air, climbed into the chair before Slenderman's desk and neatly tucked her legs beneath her.

Slenderman turned then and Sally despised the tight folds made in the offending garment by his death grip on the material. "I am not _hung up_ on anyone." he said deliberately, loosening his hold on the hoodie gradually.

"And yet," Sally picked the obligatory fountain pen off of Slenderman's desk and waved it about lazily. "You saved her Slendy." Her large green doleful eyes held too much keen intellect for her age. "Why would you do that?"

Here in lay the reason Sally could do what she did.

She knew the story.

She could change the future simply by knowing what had already been done in it.

Slenderman let out a long and tortured sigh but didn't answer. Instead, he lifted the stolen garment towards his smooth, white, face-without-a-face and inhaled slowly.

Biting her lip to keep from grinding her teeth, Sally quietly said, "You're going crazy Slender." It was a chore, but she kept all emotion from her voice. In the end, her job began and ended with telling the truth. How she felt about it didn't change a thing.

"I suppose I am." He acknowledged distantly. "I am not even sure what I am expected to do." With a derisive chuckle, he tossed the hoodie onto his desk. It slid off the edge and puddled in Sally's lap.

"I wish I could tell you," Sally muttered softly as she picked the piece of clothing up and pressed it against her cheek as if she might hear its heartbeat. Noticing the bitter curb to the air, Sally added, "Being human sucks, doesn't it."

Slenderman bristled mildly but didn't seem to have the energy to get upset. "Do not lump me in with such creatures. I am not human."

She laughed shortly. "So it must suck even more, huh?" Nuzzling the blue fabric that smelled faintly of burning lavender, Sally mumbled disdainfully before saying, "Imagine what _we_ had to go through. It's _hell_."

Closing her lids delicately and leaning back against the chair, Sally giggled. "And then we get to play _monster_ , only, we still can't get rid of our humanity, right Slendy?" She cracked an eyelid and rolled her gazed up towards him. "But now you're _just.._ _like… us_."

"I should have let her fall." Slenderman said darkly, turning away from Sally once more. "It would have been ridiculously simple, mundane even. That brilliant spark would have been extinguished and this fiasco would be over."

"Would that it were so simple." Sally said dazedly. Coming alert, she snapped Bean's hoodie away from her person suddenly, flinging it across the room. Hitting the wall, it slumped to the ground, much like a human itself. "But she's important to you now, whether you _particularly_ like it or not."

Slenderman didn't answer her but Sally didn't mind. He got like that sometimes, too caught up in the possibilities of the future to pay attention to the problems of the present. Sally let out a ripple of mirth. "Trust Jeff to pull out the one group of girls that should never have been messed with and try to kill them. You'd think he was younger than me with the way he touches things that don't belong to him."

"I will not let her die." Slenderman said, his voice low and threatening.

Who he intended to scare, Sally couldn't be sure. All she could do was nod dutifully before snapping her eyes towards him and hissing,"Even though killing her is your job." Slenderman stiffened ever so slightly and Sally smirked. For some reason Slenderman was making it ridiculously easy for her to push his buttons today.

" _Was_ my job." He corrected quietly.

"Still is." She countered, untucking her legs and draping them over the arm of the chair. After a moment in that position Sally grumbled and pulled her knees to her chest. How Zero could sit like that was beyond her. "Your job doesn't change just cause you don't want to do it any more."

"Jeffrey chose it for me, I doubt it means much." Slenderman said, scoffing. Despite the front he was putting up, Sally knew Slender was thinking hard about her words.

"But you know the rules," she hummed, twitching the pen she still held back and forth hypnotically. "She's seen you, she's talked to you, she's gotten to _know_ you." Sally shook her head in disapproval. "Bean's got to _go_."

"Not if she comes here." Slenderman muttered. Sally almost chuckled at the hopeless and dreadfully cliched train of thought her favorite monster was entertaining.

"But, you don't control that do you?" The words practically dripped from her mouth as she leaned towards Slenderman, a manic glint in her green eyes. "You always act like you're in charge Slendy but you're forgetting someone aren't you." She flashed a smile that was all teeth.

"You're forgetting _Zalgo_."

The room chilled considerably. Slenderman whipped around at the name and Sally knew that if he'd had eyes, he would have been glaring at her. She paid him no heed, casually flipping the pen into the air instead. "After all, only _he_ can make someone a Creepypasta." She caught the pen one last time before leaning forward and putting her elbows on Slenderman's desk so she could prop her head up. "And why would he do that for Bean?"

The air was still for a moment as the room fell into utter silence.

"Just some food for thought." She added brightly, leaning away from Slenderman. Swishing her long brown hair from her eyes, Sally flipped the pen into the air before driving it down into Slenderman's desk. "After all, thinking all you've been doing recently." The pen stayed stuck in the oak wood and trembled slightly.

"I fail to see any reason why he would refuse." Slenderman protested reasonably. "She happens to be one of us after all. I actually think he would accept her."

"Do you _think_ , or do you _want_ him to accept her," Sally wagged a finger at Slenderman. "That's the trouble with you, you always treat your thoughts like the final word. Not everyone agrees Slendy."

At long last getting irritated by her constant interruptions and accusation, Slenderman placed one of his long tentacles on her head and said, "I should be cutting off that long tongue of yours. Your words crossed the line a long time ago. You would do well to keep your thoughts to yourself my dear."

Instead of feeling threatened, Sally shrugged off his words and gently pushed his tentacle away. "I'm getting bored here. It's no fun when you act so gloomy and adult-like." She jumped off the chair and brushed at her little pink dress. "I'm gonna go and find someone who appreciates having fun."

"You do that." Slenderman rumbled, watching her go with a disapproving air.

"And you try to keep it in your pants." She let out a playful giggle and dashed out of the room just before Slenderman tried to reach for her.

Because ultimately, she knew where the story was going and she knew how it would end.

"Shh, that's a secret."

* * *

 _Emily_

"Okay, will _someone_ explain why Blue is in the middle of the living room holding a fucking _frying pan_?" Ellie demanded as she strode into the small kitchen that lay off of the main room.

Emily took a sip from the coffee mug she'd been holding for while. Letting the bittersweet taste of the dark coffee wet her dry throat Emily cleared her throat before responding, "Don't know. She's been like this ever since I got down."

"Great. As if one paranoid idiot wasn't enough." Ellie groaned and rolled her eyes.

Taking a notice of her statement, Emily brought her head up fixed Ellie with a look and a raised eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Not you dear Em," Ellie playfully waved her hand and headed to the tiny kitchen table. "Any idea where the salt is, I wanna make some pancakes."

Emily pointed her finger towards the door and coolly remarked, "The majority of it is currently laying around the couch."

"I swear…" Ellie grumbled something under her breath that Emily couldn't quite understand. But she did understand that Ellie was furious.

"There's some coffee though." Emily offered, waving at the machine besides Ellie.

"Coffee, for brunch? No thank you." Ellie yawned widely before beginning to open the rest of the cabinets, hoping to find something edible. "God, I swear, I hardly slept at all last night."

"Let me guess, you were the one who was screaming like a little girl?" Emily groused. "Because seriously, that woke me up and it took me three hours to fall back asleep."

Ellie snorted. "Please, that wasn't me. It was obviously one of the two weirdos."

"Says you." Emily muttered, rolling her eyes. "Whatever. If you weren't the one screaming, why weren't you sleeping?"

"Well obviously Dark Souls is not gonna finish itself." Ellie scoffed, flicking her long hair out of her face.

"No please," moaned Emily, covering her ears, "Spare me the details. I don't want to become a nerd."

"Don't worry, you might not live to go through it."

The mood soured almost at once. Emily's eyes fell to her coffee much and she shifted as dismal thoughts flooded her mind.

"What, too soon?" Ellie chuckled as she took a seat opposite Emily.

"Was that really necessary?" Emily interjected wildly. "I get that I'm going to die, but that doesn't mean you won't."

"Whoa, chillax girlfriend. Are your buttons that easy?" Ellie held her hands up in defense as she grinned.

Emily let out a deep sigh and pushed her mug away. "Aren't you afraid?"

"Pardon me?"

"Don't play the blond bimbo with me." Emily looked up and stared into Ellie's chocolate eyes. "You know exactly what I meant. It's obvious that my number has popped up, and who says you won't be next."

"Ugh, you sound exactly like he did." Ellie groaned loudly, pouring herself some black coffee. "Simple, once you go bye-bye, it's Blue's turn."

"And how can you be so sure?" Emily argued frustratedly. "And who is _he?_ "

"Well, first they came for Blue, and they failed. Then they came for you, which again failed. Which lead me to believe that they'll try to finish what's already on their plate before moving to the next course of their meal." Ellie explained.

"So in other words you hate us so much that you're _hoping_ we die first." Emily said, looking at her imploringly.

"Basically." Ellie shrugged. "And as for who _he_ is," She chuckled. "Well that's a story for another day. Better stay alive if you want to find out."

"Not really," Emily pushed her back against the chair and stared blankly at the ceiling.

"He's someone who called me last night." Ellie muttered at last. "Not that it really matters, he was some sort of teenage hacker kid who wants to play some games with me."

"Hang on, _called?!_ As in you received a phone call?" Emily almost jumped from her seat with a mixed expression of hope and anticipation.

"Keep your bra on, he _called_ me. Not sure how, but he did it." Ellie replied in a calm tone, shattering Emily's hopes. "He's not on our side anyway." She thought for a moment, then amended, "Okay, he's not on _your_ side. Not quite sure about me yet."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know that movie Predator, where the alien hunter hunts Arnold and Jesse Ventura in the jungle for sports." Ellie elaborated, "Well I think it's the same case with me. That boy is looking for a fight, and he picked the wrong kitty to mess with."

"Why couldn't _I_ have gotten a harmless troublemaker as my killer." Emily muttered, a frown creasing her typically frowning face.

"Look on the bright side, at least you weren't stuffed into a vent or dangled from the chandelier." Ellie pointed out with a snap of her fingers.

"But who knows what will really happen to me. That boy Jeff seemed like he belonged in an asylum or worse." Emily rested her chin on her folded arms and stared at the side of her coffee mug.

"Well, what would you like me to say Emmy dear? Do you want me to hold you in my arms and say that everything will be fine?" Ellie folded her hands together and rested her chin on them while flashing Emily an uncomfortable smile. "If you don't even have the will to survive, you aren't going to last." She trailed off and looked thoughtful.

"Why bother if I'm not strong enough to fight in the first place." Emily exhaled the hot air from her mouth before giving Ellie a weak look. "What do you think will happen to the rest when I'm…" She swallowed the end of her sentence.

"Hah! How cute, you're worrying about them." Ellie reached forward and patted her head. "Don't worry, they'll be better off without you. I'll be a better leader than you ever could be."

"Anyone would be better than me." Letting out the words in quiet mumble, Emily tried to signal that she didn't want to continue the conversation anymore.

"You really aren't fun anymore." Ellie complained, twisting her head to an unnatural angle. "You used to be so feisty and now you're just _blah_."

"I happened to grow up and accept reality while you stayed that small bubble of yours."

"I've accepted reality." Ellie assured Emily, a serious look on her face. "I accept it one moment at a time."

"Then grow up. Stop treating everyone like shit. After I'm gone you'll be the leader, so start acting like one." Emily snapped, furious.

"There's the Emily we all know and love." Ellie cackled, almost knocking over her coffee. She sniffled. "You'll be missed."

"You know, I know your type, I happened to be one. Acting nonchalant and treating everyone in a bad way. But the truth is, you're scared as much as we are. It's only a matter of time before you show your true color." Emily shoved away from the table and got to her feet.

"Fear is an emotion my therapist didn't teach me to feel." Ellie said flatly. "He think's he'll make me feel it too but you know, it just isn't in my personality." Her nonchalance pissed Emily off. Sometimes, the Asian girl had to wonder if Ellie was even _human_.

"Keep telling yourself that, but I know the truth. You can't hide forever. Unfortunately, I'll be dead before I finally watch you fall on your knees, and covered in tears."

A slow clap from behind the pair spun Emily around. They both found Sophia standing there, a bored look on her face. "Beautiful. Your poetry rivals Shakespeare's. I feel like I'm listening to Macbeth all over again."

"Oh, it's the other half, tweedledum." Emily groaned before walking towards the door. "I'm going to go spend my last hours not around you two."

"The feeling is mutual!" Called Sophia as she left.

* * *

 _Toby_

"... And the penguin says, that's not an eggplant, he's _retarded_!" Toby burst out laughing. "Isn't that great!"

Masky, who was standing at the counter chopping cucumbers viciously, deadpanned "You lost me at the umbrella."

"Aw, come on, that was the best part!" Toby protested, furrowing his brows in disappointment. After a moment of bored silence, Toby looked over Masky's shoulder at the neat cucumber wedges and asked, "So… whatcha making?"

"Don't you have someone else to bother?" Masky asked, infuriated. "If you're not gonna help here, then go away."

"What do you mean ' _not helping'_? I opened the refrigerator and even helped cut the tomatoes!" Toby protested hotly. He held up his sticky hands proudly. "See, helped!"

"No, you made a mess and you still haven't cleaned it up." Masky countered while pointing at the counter that was soaked with an inch thick layer of mashed pulp that _might_ have been tomatos at some point in the past.

Not giving up, Toby continued to argue with Masky. "Still, it's the thought that counts."

"Yes, very good Toby, would you like a gold star for that?" Masky growled, pointing the butcher knife at Toby's masked face.

"That was sarcasm, wasn't it?" The twitchy proxy complained, fingering the hilts of his hatchets nervously. "You're always sarcastic when you're talking to me. Why are you always so nice to Hoodie but not to me!"

"Because Hoodie doesn't make a fucking mess of everything!" Masky exclaimed, the knife flying from his slippery fingers and impaling the wall right beside Toby's left ear. "Oops," he droned. "My hand _slipped._ "

"I'm telling Slenderman!" Toby whined much like a child would do.

"Corpses can't talk." Masky hissed, sounding delighted, drawing another knife from the knife block behind him.

Twin knives sliced through the air between the bickering pair, cutting off their conversation completely. Clockwork sashayed into the kitchen behind her blades, a winning, if unnerving, smile on her face. "Glad to see you two getting along so well!" She exclaimed sarcastically. "Mind if I snatch Toby away for a moment?"

"Please do, you can keep him for as long as you'd like." Masky said brightly, retrieving Clockwork's knives for her and pushing Toby towards his girlfriend.

"What's up Clocky?" Toby asked, swatting Masky away.

"Not here, outside." Clockwork linked her arm around Toby and gestured her head at the door.

"That's what Jeff said before Jane and him screwed each other outside." Toby muttered suspiciously. "Can't we just talk somewhere else?"

Clockwork rolled her eye before dragging him towards the staircase and up it, ignoring his protests. This was actually pretty typical of their relationship.

"Seriously, what's up?" Toby insisted as Clockwork pushed him into their room and shut the door.

"What I'm about to say must not leave this room, we could get in serious trouble." Clockwork locked the door and stepped away.

"That sounds like a movie reference." Toby tapped his chin. "Wait, don't tell me, I'll get it eventually."

Groaning under her breath, she slapped the side of his head to get his attention. "Toby, focus. This is serious!"

"I was being serious!" He protested, looking down at her imploringly. She rolled her eye again and yanked him away from the door.

"Shut up!" Clockwork snapped in a hushed voice. "Forget your movie references for a moment. This has to do with the game."

Toby groaned but sat on the small side table beside their bed. "That's all anyone talks about now. We already killed Taylor Clocky. It wasn't even that interesting. Eleven good hacks and she was gone!"

"This is about the other girls there." Clockwork muttered, sinking to the bed and sighing. "Something's wrong with this game."

"Tell me about it." Toby agreed. "I've had migraines ever since it started. It's awful." He noticed Clockwork's scowl and furrowed his brows. "I'm guessing that wasn't the answer you were looking for?"

Taking a deep breath, Clockwork spent a moment calming down before proceeding, "You remember that one time when I told you _not_ to _borrow_ the car keys?"

"Yeah…" He muttered, nervous.

"And what happened when you did that?" She prompted.

Toby looked away and mumbled something.

"What was that?"

"I was caught and arrested." He repeated his sentence but audibly this time.

"Caught and arrested." The way Clockwork said the words almost made Toby feel like she was enjoying humiliating him. "And what happened then? After I broke you out but not before the hours of bloodshed _and_ promising not to tell Slenderman."

"I said I would listen to you from that point on." Toby answered dutifully, looking at his feet in shame.

"So, will you please be a dear and listen to me, sweetie?" Even though her words seemed gentle, the way she said them was anything but.

"Okay, I'm listening." He assured her, looking at her mournfully. "What's wrong?"

"Now, I think that there's someone inside our little game who shouldn't be there." Clockwork said, her gaze distant as she spoke.

"What do you mean?" Raising an eyebrow, Toby asked.

"Well, after my talk with Jane I've been thinking, is it possible that one of the remaining girls could possible be a CreepyPasta?" Clockwork speculated, looking up at Toby. His orange aviator goggles reflected in her acid green eye.

"What made you come up with that theory?" Toby asked, shocked and rightfully so.

"I genuinely don't know, call it a hunch." She replied, looking away. "I mean, something's going on. I'm not sure of the exact details but we aren't exactly exterminating them are we. They're beating us."

"It could describe what's happening to Slenderman. He has been acting really off ever since the game started." Toby offered a small smile as he let his hand rest over Clock's. "You know you can always count on me, even if you're idea sounds... err…"

"Crazy? Insane? Stupid?" Clockwork suggested.

"I was gonna say interesting."

Clockwork smiled and chuckled softly. "You have no idea how much I love you right now."

"So," Toby cocked his head to the side. "What are you suggesting we do?"

"Well, for starters we can't do anything until Jeff's out of the picture." Clockwork muttered darkly. "He's a problem."

"Wait, we're gonna kill him!" Toby exclaimed. "I did _not_ sign up for this shit."

Cockwork sighed and somehow, Toby could almost feel her exasperation threaten to choke him. "No, he just needs to kill his target so he won't have any reason to go back to the cabin."

"Oh, that makes more sense." Toby lowered his guard and continued listening to the rest of Clock's plan.

"I say we go and investigate ourselves. Between the two of us we should be able to get a pretty good picture of the situation over there." Clockwork brooded, scowling

"I don't know, we might get in trouble."

"If we get caught, 'We were out in the woods, and you didn't see anything'." Clockwork said with a stern look on her face. "I doubt they could make you talk, your mind after all is… ehh… _special_."

"Yep, I'm an idiot!" Toby announced proudly.

Clockwork pursed her lips but didn't contest his statement. "We need to figure out if there are any CreepyPastas there without letting anyone else know our suspicions."

Toby looked confused. "Okay, your plan is great and all but let's skip to when we actually find this girl. Then what?"

"We'll figure something out." Clockwork replied.

"That's it? We'll rely on sheer luck?" Toby argued in disbelief.

"Look who's talking." Clock grumbled. "It's not like I had months preparing for this, I just found out myself. Do you take me for a James Bond villain or something?"

"Okay, okay, don't get upset." Toby waved hands in defense in an attempt to calm her down. "So we're disobeying orders, seeking out an unknown enemy, and we don't have a plan. Did I miss anything?"

"Jeff will kill us if he catches us." Clockwork added helpfully.

"And we'll be hunted if we get caught!" Toby nodded thoughtfully. "So, we're doing better than usual."

"Pretty much." Clockwork agreed brightly, tilting her head playfully.

"Yet another typical Wednesday."

"It's Thursday." Clockwork corrected instantly.

"Even better."

 **A/N: I know this chapter was a little sub-plot heavy but I'm happy with it.**

 **IDG: A little?**

 **Q: I'm happy with it.**

 **IDG: Yet more sub-plots keep popping up in every corner.**

 **Q: I'M HAPPY WITH IT!**

 **IDG: What's next, Ellie's and Emily's mother share the same name? Because this is pretty much turning out like BatAffleck V SuperGrump, and we all know how that turned out.**

 **Q: *sighs* Look on the bright side, someone dies violently next chapter. Than there will be drama and smiles and tears and blood and guts** _ **everywhere**_ **.**

 **IDG: Much like BatAffleck V SuperGrump. All we're missing is someone peeing in a jar.**

 **Q: Happy Birthday again Lilypad, I hope this makes up for how terrible I am. Until next time…**

 **IDG: You who couldn't have a birthday, MARTHA! Why did you say that name!**


	21. Mark the Graves

**A/N: So I know I've been swamping you poor readers with a deluge of boring… not filler… more like stuff that isn't going to make much sense until later but I swear I'm done. From here on out things get tense and crazy and people's secrets start spilling.**

 **There's only one thing in the way of this wonderful drama-fest. Emily.**

 **IDG: Well, I knew it would come to this. I got ten big G's with me, and all I need is your half and we can give agent 47 his contract.**

 **Q: *laughs darkly* Oh I'm going to** _ **enjoy**_ **this.**

 **IDG: Then it's settled. I have my half of the money, so I need your half.**

 **Q: Done. Everyone, enjoy…**

 _Jane_

Inspecting her nails for the millionth time and wondering once again if gouging out Jeff's eyes with them would make things go faster, Jane groaned pointedly. Jeff looked up from the screen of his smartphone and raised an eyebrow. Rolling her eyes, Jane glared in the other direction purposely.

"What goes in dry and hard, but comes out wet and soft," Jeff clicked his tongue and smirked knowingly. "Any thoughts Janey?"

"Are you really doing this right now?" Jane furiously hissed, eye ticking with fearsome regularity.

"Nothing better to do anyways." Jeff causally shrugged, awaiting her answer. "Just say the first thing that pops in your mind."

Jane furiously tried to think of an answer that wasn't dirty, determined to not end up as the butt Jeff's jokes.

"Tick tock, time's running out." She could easily notice his twisted permanent smile extending around his cheeks.

"The bones you give Smile." She snapped at last.

"Nope." Oh he was just _asking_ to be pushed out of the tree. "Try again Sunshine."

"Fine, a dick!" She spat, crossing her arms and looking away in irritation.

"Tsk, tsk, I'm really disappointed in you Jane. What a dirty mind you have." He shook his head, assuming a dutifully disappointed look. "It's chewing gum."

Scoffing, she yanked the binoculars off the broken stump of a branch they'd hung them on and stared through them intensely, hoping to drown out the sound of Jeff snickering with the noise of her own disapproval. "She's already in her room for the night. Do we really have to wait any longer?"

"Well, seeing how there are four other girls that we have sneak past them, not to mention that we're not allowed to be spotted or kill them, I say we wait. But what the hell do I know, I'm just a professional killer." Jeff sarcastic statement was not enough to hold back Jane and her killer instincts.

"It's only that midget left up. She's drinking in the kitchen I think." Jane muttered, grinding her teeth.

"Look princess, if you want to go in and get caught, or worse, then be my guest." Jeff replied dryly. "Just know this, I won't bail you out of jail."

Jane huffed but didn't move.

Extricating the binoculars from Jane's frustrated fingers, Jeff watched in trained silence before chuckling, a hint of malice creeping into his voice. "Looks like Sophia's out like a light. Such a shame Masky and Hoodie aren't here now. They'd have it easy."

She threw him a beseeching look. "Does that mean we can move now. I'm going to have splinters in my ass if I sit here much longer."

"Wouldn't want that now would we?" Jeff smirked as he got up to his feet with a slight of grunt.

Jane rolled her eyes but gratefully slipped off her tree limb, gracefully -for someone in high heels- bouncing from one branch to the next until the drop was such she thought she could make it to the forest floor without twisting an ankle. Just to be safe she removed her heels before falling to the ground with a soft _oomf_.

"You've gotten better Janey." Jeff said, landing beside her without a sound. "I'd leave the shoes though, scaling a wall isn't going to exactly be a treat in those."

It was her turn to smirk. "Why bother with windows?" Replacing her heels she took off at a clip pace towards the house. "I'd rather go through the front door."

Laughing in that grudgingly impressed way he always did when Jane did something especially stupid/cocky, Jeff followed her, drawing his knife as they went.

The grass parted pleasantly under her practical pumps as she walked towards the cabin, purpose in every step. She'd been waiting too long for this and she'd be damned if someone didn't end up dead by the end of the night.

Like the professional creep that he was, Jeff swiftly picked the various locks on the door before pushing it in, bowing theatrically and gesturing for her to enter first. Jane did so, feeling very much like the princess Jeff always called her.

As if accepting of her presence, the floor failed to creak under her feet as she strode into the main room. Sophia, the short brunette, was indeed passed out on the counter, a glass of half-finished whisky in one hand. Jane could relate.

Looking up, Jane was a little confused as to why the fat girl Puppet and Painter had killed wasn't still dangling from the ceiling. The chandelier was still there so why…

Jeff clicked his tongue in reprimand. " _Sunshine_ ," He sing-songed. "Our loyal victim is _waiting_."

Chagrined, Jane started ascending the stairs, one foot methodically placed in front of the other. Without putting much thought into her actions she drew her knife and silently sliced a strip of her black dress off of the hem. Feeling Jeff's eyes on her thighs, she shot him a glare.

"Eyes on the target."

"Oh they are." He assured her, smirking lecherously.

"If I break up with you after this, don't ask 'why'." Jane grumbled to him as she stared back to the top level of the stairs.

Jeff looked up at her face, a penitent expression on his face. "It's not my fault you've got nice legs."

"It's for a gag asshole." She muttered, unable to hide the dopy grin that spread over her face at his compliment. "So she doesn't scream and bring the geek squad down on us."

"Or your quote-unquote friend." Jeff deadpanned, letting Jane know that the heat was still there.

"Yeah," Jane agreed, looking away bitterly. "Or her."

Jeff's face softened. "Who knows, maybe she'll survive on her own. You don't tend to make friends with weaklings." His words rang true, but didn't lift the melancholy aura that had fallen over her.

"Yeah.." Jane shook the idea out of her head and focused more on her current mission. "Let's just focus on our current plate before deciding to fill another."

As they reached the door, Jeff seemed to quickly work out something in his head before looking at her seriously. "Let me go in first. You can do the pleasures of rousing our sleeping beauty."

Jane firmly grabbed Jeff by the shoulder, almost digging her nails into his skin. "Nice try, we go in at the same time."

Jeff found himself forming a wide teasing grin on his lips. "Could it be my stone cold killer is getting jealous?"

"Of her?" Jane scoffed. "Please. I just think doing it together would be more… Fun?"

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Sure, keep telling yourself tha…ah!"

Jane nails bit into his shoulder and he winced. "Sorry Janey, it's just you don't' usually react to it as much."

"I'm still a little on edge after…" She waved her knife unhelpfully. "That."

"Fine." He said, relenting. "But I get to gag her," Jeff teased.

She tossed him the black fabric. "Well, since you're the _expert_ in tying those things, I'll leave it to you." Opening the door slowly, they both slipped inside.

The room was dark, perfectly so. A single shaft of moonlight was the only break in the monotony. Emily tossed fitfully in her bed, mumbling to herself all the while.

Trusting Jeff knew what he was doing, Jane slid up next to the girl's bed, a sweet smile on her white face. "Wakey wakey." she whispered soothingly, reaching out to touch the Asian girl's skin. "We can't have you asleep for this now can we?"

"Wha~?" Emily twitched away from her hand and slowly blinked her eyes. Warm brown turned to dilated black as it dawned on their lovely victim just _who_ was waking her up. Regaining some more of her mental faculties, she whimpered, then opened her mouth to scream.

The black strip of fabric caught her words and held them as Jeff shoved a wad of tissues into her mouth and bound them with the piece of Jane's dress. "Unfortunately, we also can't have you _talking_ during this." Jeff cooed, catching Emily's wrists in what Jane knew from experience was a steely strong grip.

Without much warning Jane pushed and Jeff pulled, yanking the girl out of her bed. Jane could see the fear sparking wildly in Emily's almond eyes and knew without a shadow of a doubt that soon that expression would be pain.

Vaulting over the bed and landing beside the terrified girl, who had tears already leaking from her eyes, Jane simpered. "No _no_ , shushshushshush, it'll all be over soon.

"That is, depending on the amount of time we're going to spend with you." Jeff added while attempting to catch up with the struggle she was putting.

Emily's leg suddenly moved and Jane bent sideways to avoid the furious kick. Catching the offending limb, Jane shook her head. "We can't have any of that now _can we_." Her sympathetic look melted into a sneer and her knife flashed.

Blood spurted from the severed achilles tendon almost instantly and just like that the muffled screams coming from Emily chilled.

Jeff looked disappointed. "Really Jane, really? I thought we were doing this together." Tugging Emily upright by the hair, his eternal smile turned into a pout.

"We _are._ You're still holding her arms, aren't you?" Jane offered flashing an amusement smirk.

"But I want to help." He insisted, looking down at Emily to see the effect his words were having on her. "Just because we just got back together doesn't mean I'm going to let you have all the fun.

"Did we? I don't remember saying we got back together." Jane replied dryly, raising an eyebrow as she pulled one of Emily's free arms out of Jeff's grasp. "We only had sex, that doesn't mean we're automatically back together."

"Come on Sunshine, please?" Jeff relinquished his hold on Emily's hair, instead opting to just hold her other arm.

"Nuh uh, do it properly." Jane insisted, moving towards the window, pulling Emily with her. "I want to hear it from your mouth, not from your dick."

"How? That's _literally_ all we've ever done since we started dating."

Pressing the hand of Emily's she had in her grasp to one edge of the window frame, Jane huffed. "Don't you remember the first time you asked me out?"

Jeff opened his mouth, only to close it.

"Don't tell, you forgot." She let out a small groan. "Typical."

"Of course I remember." He scoffed, pinning Emily's other hand to the opposing side of the window frame. "I just wanted to see if you did."

"Right," She wasn't surprised, this was Jeff after all.

Together, they hoisted Emily aloft until her feet were dangling off the ground. "I remember what happened afterward." Jeff told the hyperventilating and tearstained Emily gravley. "That was _the best_ night of my life."

"Fucker." Irritated, Jane whipped out a spare knife and drove it through Emily's right palm, perhaps a bit more viciously than she had intended. The black haired girl convulsed on a scream that would have been bloodcurdling if they could have heard it. "Need I refresh your memory?"

Jeff raised an eyebrow and stabbed Emily's other palm, leaving her pinned to the wall, retching and writhing. "We were stuck in a cave, right?" he stood back to admire their work with a muttered, "Not half bad."

"Good!" Jane praised sarcastically. Grabbing the knife that Emily had conveniently left on her bedside table, she twirled it once then pointed it at Jeff. "I was in a shitty mood-"

"You always are." He gave Emily a solemn nod. "She always is."

" _And_ you were only making it worse." Jane finished testily, taking aim and throwing the blade accurately through Emily's useless foot that was already dripping crimson, pinning it too to the wall. "You'd lead us to _another_ dead end."

"No, that was you princess." Jeff reminded her, revealing yet another knife and pinning Emily's other foot to the wall so it matched the first. Jane could see the sweat standing out on their victim's forehead, even in the almost non-existent lighting.

"Whatever." she waved her hand. "I was already upset with you over what you said the night before." A smile touched the corners of her mouth as she remembered the day fondly. "And this was the fucking end of the line for me in terms of keeping my shit together."

Emily was sobbing silently from where she hung on the wall. Jane looked at the picture almost adoringly. Human suffering was so beautiful.

"I thought you were going to kill me." Jeff muttered, fingering his knife as if wondering what to do next.

"Before, or after you asked me?"

"Both." Dragging his knife across Emily's breastbone in the smoothest of movements, Jeff chuckled wryly. "I mean, I figured if we were going to both die, what did I have to lose?" Blood dribbled from the deep cut.

"Do you remember what you said?" Jane prompted, grazing Emily's arm with her own knife.

Jeff's white cheeks flushed a dark red. "I said that I wasn't going to let the woman I loved die alone." he muttered, clearly embarrassed. Emily makes a choked sound and Jeff snapps, "Fuck off, I thought we were going to die. I'm not usually that sappy."

Jane plunged her knife into Emily's elbow joint, severing the ligaments and tendons, leaving the girl screaming silently. "Aw, I knew you had it in you." Twisting her knife further, almost pulling the limb off entirely, she leaned forward and lightly teased, "So does that mean you'll do it again?"

Jeff rolled his eyes and muttered, "If I weren't head over heels for you…" Clearing his throat he glared at Emily. "You're seeing this, right. Because I am not repeating it." With the butt of his knife he manually bobbed the Asian girl's head up and down. "Good."

"You're stalling." Jane reprimanded, tapping her foot.

"Fine!" Looking at Jane, Jeff softly said, "Jane, I love you so much, that it hurts. Will you go out with me." he cringed. "There, I said it, it's done, there's sappyness _everywhere_."

Jane giggled. "I just wanted to torture you a bit." Looking at the pretty picture they'd created out of Emily, Jane muttered, "It's missing something…"

Glancing over, Jeff furrowed his brow before stabbing Emily in her left eye. Blood spattered over his hoodie and face. The Asian convulsed once, twice, then fell still. "Better?"

"You sure know how to make a girl feel special." Draping her arms around Jeff's neck, Jane murmured, "Now, are you going to kiss me or is that dead girl still more interesting?"

* * *

 _Spectra_

How do you describe the feeling that something's wrong? Spectra would have said it was a chill, trickling down her spine, or perhaps a slight prickle on the back of her neck. Maybe even the twinges of a headache behind her right eye.

By those terms, nothing was wrong. Spectra just couldn't sleep. The frying pan had long since been abandoned, it was more a precaution then a necessity. She hadn't even _bothered_ fixing the salt line around her bed. It was just for show anyways, the real monsters weren't that easy to stop.

"I know you're there," she muttered at last, sighing. No one responded. So far, no one had. Shaking her head Spectra swung her legs out of bed. "Don't tell me the salt actually _worked_." Kicking at it a bit, she smiled into the darkness. "Is that better?"

Still no response.

Grumbling to herself about the chill running through the old house, Spectra wandered out of her room. The iron stake she'd found in the basement was securely in her pocket but she doubted she'd need it. Even so…

The cabin was quiet, eerily so. Spectra kind of liked it to be honest. It was like the tragedy that had taken place within its walls had stripped away at the lies and left only the truth behind. _The fewer lies the better, right?_

"Come on, don't you want to catch up, talk about old times, _reminisce?"_ Spectra's tone was mocking. The lack of a response was irritating to say the least. Peering over the edge of the balcony, Spectra saw Sophia passed out at the bar. _How typical. And she tries to be_ scary.

A door behind her creaked and clarity sliced through her like a knife. _Finally._

Turning slowly, unsure of what she might fine, Spectra was rather disappointed to see that it was just Emily's door, swinging out on it's hinges. Sighing, she walked towards it, intent on shutting it before the girl inside woke up and accused her of attempted murder.

Really, it was almost depressing how little they all trusted each other.

A puff of air swirled out of Emily's room as Spectra closed the door. The rank odor of copper met her nose. _Blood._ She almost sighed in resignation. _No doubt another bit the dust._

"Either that, or it's that time of the month." Spectra muttered sarcastically to herself. Drawing her weapon, she stepped into Emily's room, wary of what she might find.

Her stomach turned at the sight before her.

The Asian girl had been strung up like a curing animal hide. Arms stretched out over the window, feet pinned beneath her, Emily hung limply, dead. Her right arm looked mangled and the killers had gouged out her left eye. Slowly walking forward, Spectra swallowed back her revulsion. The girl hadn't been exactly nice but she hadn't deserved _this_.

"But I deserved it, right?"

Spectra didn't turn, didn't flinch. The only sign she'd heard anything was the twitch of her lips as they curled into a smile. "Hey Maria, it's been a while."

"It has, hasn't it lil' sis," Maria replied in a delighted and mocking tone. "What's with the tent stake? Going camping, or is there something else?"

Spectra's breath hitched and she spent a moment collecting herself before replying, "A little bit of both."

"I see." Spectra turned to face her older sister. "You truly haven't changed _Spectra_ , always unsure of your decisions and the place where you stand. It's pathetic, actually."

The Maria that sat on Catherine's unoccupied bed looked nothing like the one from her dreams. Sure her chest and abdomen were nothing but bloody holes but other than that, she looked the same as Spectra remembered. Just as austerely beautiful and just as ultimately cruel. "You do realize that this stake is made out iron, right?" Her grip on the stake tightened as her face turned steely.

"Is that so?" Maria fixed her with a genuine smile. "Well go on then, swing it. Send me back to hell." She beckoned for Spectra to hurt her, smile morphing into a sneer when the blue-haired girl didn't move. "As expected, you still can't decide for yourself. You really haven't changed, still living as my shadow, aren't you Spectra."

Spectra didn't answer, she just watched her sister's apparition laugh at her expense. "That's not true, you aren't even here. You're dead as you've always been. You're just in my mind."

"Then what's the stake for?" Maria threw her head back and regarded her coldly. "Think I can get any deader? But then again," She giggled. "You're the expert here." Rising to her feet, Maria sashayed towards Spectra, a smirk playing at the corners of her mouth. "Or maybe I _am_ just in your head. Has the past gotten too fast for you to run away from?"

"My past isn't exactly pursuing me." Spectra spat through gritted teeth.

"Come now sis, we've _all_ got our dirty little _secrets_ , don't we?" Maria's smile was little more than a simper. "What about your _friend,_ hmm? She seems to have a lot she's not telling you."

Spectra huffed in irritation. "That's petty even for you Maria, leave Bean out of this, she's not even worth your time."

"Oh? And why is that, might I ask?" Maria's hand ghosted by her cheek, stopping just short of touching her. "Is it because she's you only _true_ friend? Or maybe she thinks of herself as a freak like you."

"She's not my only friend." Spectra retorted, leaning away from Maria's hand.

"Oh sorry, how silly of me. There was also the girl who was shoved to the vent, the black one who was crushed, the fat one who got turned into a _rose,_ and now you've got Asian Jesus here." She gestured at Emily. "Crucified for sins she never committed. You know, I'm noticing a trend here!"

Spectra took a step back but Maria pursued her. "Oh and let's not forget that _boy_. Except wait, we killed him!" Maria gave a manic laugh. "And you thought you could _save him_. It was so _cute!_ "

"Don't talk about him!" Spectra snapped, surprising her sister. "You don't know _shit_ Maria. You're dead, whether you're my imagination or not."

"My, my, even in death I still manage to rule you." Maria let out a small giggle. "Some things never seem to change." She looked past Spectra wistfully and sighed. "And here I thought you were independent."

"What the hell are you getting at?" Spectra suspiciously demanded.

"Nothing much, I just want the best for my little sister." Maria replied with a heavy sigh. "After all, I raised you like my own daughter. Who knew mom and dad would die so soon."

"Is that so." Spectra asked in an infuriated tone. "Is that why you always kept pushing me away, in public, at school, even in our home. It's was always Maria's little sister, barely anyone knew my name." The bad memories bubbled to the surface of her mind, making Spectra feel dirty. "So don't tell me you're here for my own good, _Maria_."

"Even after all this time you're so _suspicious_." Her sister complained, a sad look on her perfect face. "Never mind that it's your fault I'm dead. Nope, you're still going to yell at me like I'm the bad guy here." Maria pouted. "So cruel Spectra, so _heartless_."

"Don't you even _dare_ to go there." Spectra pointed a shaking finger at her, purple eyes filled with rage. "You want me to stand up for myself, fine then. Right now, dear sister, I want you to keep your mouth _shut_."

Maria raised her eyebrow as a small smile formed on her lips. "Impressive, but you still got a long road ahead of you. Thankfully, I'll always be here when you need me, unlike those _other_ people you call _friends,_ especially this Bean girl."

Her form wavered and vanished from Spectra's field of view, leaving her alone with Emily's cold, mutilated corpse.

"So, another one bites the dust." The cold hiss came from behind the blue-haired girl, startling her. "Very bloody, can't say I approve."

"S-Sophie, when did you arrive?" Spectra stuttered nervously.

"Right about when you told me to keep my mouth shut." Sophia commented, disinterested. "What, were you talking to yourself?"

Slowly turning to face the tiny girl, Spectra tentatively asked, "You heard that?"

Sophia ignored her, instead continuing to muse, "Then again, I wouldn't be surprised, you always seem to live in a world of your own." Picking at her nails, Sophia glanced up. "I'd ask if you did it but is there really any point?"

Spectra pressed her lips together into a hard line. "What do you think?"

"Well, there is no way I'd believe you did this. _But,_ that doesn't mean I don't find you suspicious." Sophia said. "But don't worry bestie, I can keep a secret."

"There's no secret to keep." Spectra bit out, angry despite herself.

"Exactly!" Sophia gave her a big wink, which only made Spectra angrier. "Secrets between friends are just wrong."

"Some friend you've been," Spectra said with a snort.

"Really?" Sophia raised a thin eyebrow before striding into the room, her paces measured. "You know, I've been meaning to talk to you about something Blue. About how you got here, ended up around these people."

"Alive."

The word hung in the air for a moment between the pair, a creature of malice and distrust. Spectra swallowed hard but didn't move, didn't flinch. Whatever sick pleasure Sophia got from making her life miserable, she wouldn't give her this.

"After vanishing with, oh, what was that kid's name again, _Miguel,_ everybody said you'd died." Sophia said softly, a smile playing at the corners of her lips. "They said you'd gone and _drowned,_ imagine that!"

"Are you disappointed?" Spectra bit out, unwilling to back down.

"Disappointed? Come _on_ Spectra, I _love it_." Sophia laughed. "Who would have thought _Maria's little shadow_ could be so _interesting_?"

The name made Spectra flinch. "Don't you say her name." she hissed. "She has _nothing_ to do with me!"

"Oh she doesn't? Isn't it traumatizing to lose your big sister? Or maybe, just maybe, you're the one who killed her." Sophia laughed at the stricken look on Spectra's face. "I'm kidding, _I'm kidding_ , my god Spectra you're so _easy_ to play with."

"You know something Sophia, I don't get you, and nor do I care to," Spectra replied coldly. "You're not worth it."

"Well that makes one of us, because I will find out what you're _truly_ hiding." Sophia said while fixing her with a smirk. "The million dollar question, who are you Spectra Green? Everything from your name to your behavior screams _lies_."

Spectra felt her blood chill. "I prefer the term an enigma. It's not a lie, I just don't feel like explaining myself to trash like _you_."

"Ouch, that's cold." Sophia mumbled, a sneer on her face, one that didn't quite reach her eyes. "But I'm over it. You're boring me."

Spectra didn't move as Sophia yawned dramatically and left the room, calling after her, "Careful, death around here is especially contagious. Wouldn't want you to end up in a gutter someday."

Spectra sat there silently for a moment, just long enough to calm her heart. _She's not worth getting upset over._ But that didn't stop her from hating the short girl for bringing up her past, acting like she _knew_ Spectra at all.

"Some friends you have." The ghost of Maria said wearing an amusing grin. "I mean, just look out the window. Some people just don't learn their lesson."

Feeling sick, Spectra turned. There, just visible past Emily's corpse, was Bean. Her legs dangled off the roof, a smile was on her face.

And that _monster_ sat beside her.

"I'd be _torn apart_ to see my little sister feeling betrayed again." Maria said as she placed her hand over the hole in her chest. "But don't worry, I'm not going anywhere this time."

"Not until I see the end of this game."

* * *

 _?_

Salty, very salty, but a bit sweet. Sorta, _savory_ almost. Chewy though, and too old for his tastes. He glanced at the heart and sighed. Well, food was food.

"I'm telling you, the new Star Wars did _not_ live up to the hype." Taking another bite of the sinewy heart, he continued, "It was nothing but fan service. And I bet you my right… no my left hand, that the new one would be overrated as well."

He waited for a while before hearing a response, which came in the form of a long sigh. _For the last time, I don't care. Why would you presume that I enjoyed you rambling for forty minutes about something that I barely care about._

"Jeez, no wonder you always got beat up in school." He mumbled.

"I _completely_ agree."

"I'm glad we see eye to eye on _something_!" He exclaimed, proud.

 _That wasn't me._

With a sigh that said without a single word that he was probably fucked, he turned to look at the two people that had somehow appeared behind him. Both the girl and guy were unfamiliar but he could only assume they were too more killers. They stared at him with a mixture of shock, disgust and confusion.

"Oh… ooh! Ohh." Letting out mumbled gibberish, he wasn't sure how to react. Looking down at the half eaten organ in his hands he asked, "You two are serial killers, right?" His eyes drifted to a point next to them awkwardly as he showed them the half eaten heart. With a nervous chuckle he added, "Because I can assure you that this is _not_ what it looks like."

 _And we're fucked. Not surprised at all._

"Looks like you were right Clocky. I'm sorry I doubted you." The boy said to the brunette through the striped scarf covering his mouth.

"Well, I'm not gonna lie, even _I_ didn't expect this." The girl, Clocky, admitted, crossing her arms and looking at the crazy boy before her with a perplexed sigh.

 _We're so fucked_.

"Shit out of luck." Wearing a grin, he continued the phrase.

 _This is serious!_

"I am too." He replied to the voice, catching the other two killers by surprise.

"I think he's crazy." The boy muttered to his companion.

Clocky gave her friend a raised eyebrow. "Wow Toby, that's sure calling the kettle black."

"You know, I never understood that phrase," Toby replied in confusion.

He nodded seriously at Toby. "I know right! Kettles aren't black, neither are pots. What it should've been was 'Charlie Murphy calling Wesley Snipes black'. Makes much more sense to me."

Staring at him, Toby looked overjoyed, like he'd just stumbled upon a kindred spirit. "You make so much sense," the killer agreed, awed.

 _He's just as stupid as you_.

"That's a first." He said, surprised and a little delighted.

Toby grinned. "Same! Clocky says I never make any sense at all!"

"Pfft women." The boy scoffed while waving his hand. "What do they know?"

"I completely agr…" Before Toby could finish his sentence, he received an elbow to his ribcage. "Don't agree. Nope, I don't' agree at all."

Clocky cleared her throat. "Back to the more important question I'm sure we're all asking," She glared at him. "Who are you?"

"I'm glad you asked, my name is…"

 _No, you idiot! You keep your mouth shut._

"Not important!"

"I always wanted to meet someone named Not," Toby said, laughing. "So Not, whatcha doing all the way out here?"

Clocky elbowed him again. "I'm sorry but your name _is_ important. You see, we don't exactly run across many heart-eating crazy people out in the middle of nowhere." She flashed a grin, the stitches in her cheeks pulling. "I'd hate to kill you."

 _So I know you're not much of a thinker, but you have to do this one important thing, don't tell them anything. You think you can do that?_

"Ha ha, very funny. Leave the sarcasm to me." He mumbled once again. Looking up at Clocky, he responded, "You sure? Because I could swear there was this one other guy who also shared my for cannibalism. What was his name again?" Placing his finger one his chin, he thought hard.

"Eyeless Jack?" Toby offered.

He snapped his finger and pointed at Toby. "Yes, him."

Clocky turned her head around and gave Toby a blazing glare. "Toby, may I speak with you?" Pinching his ear, she pulled him closer to her lips and yelled, "What the hell do you think you're doing!"

"I can still hear you, you know," he admitted, looking at Clocky reproachfully.

Clocky threw her hands in the air. "I hate you both!"

 _That makes two of us._

"Traitor."

"Toby, stop screwing around and capture him. He's the enemy." Clocky ordered. "Slenderman would probably like to have a very long chat with you, whoever you are."

"Ugh, do I have to?" Toby let out a long groan. "I really like the guy."

"The feeling is mutual," he assured Toby. "It's okay, I have a voice in my head telling me to kill you two as well."

 _Don't drop your guard! This boy, there's something very odd about him._

"What do you mean?"

 _His brain, It's seems that there's a large increase of endorphins. That's why his nerve systems are not very responsive to physical contact on his outside..._

"In English!"

 _Ugh… to put in terms you'll understand, he can't feel pain._

Raising an eyebrow, he looked at Toby, "Is it true? Can you really not feel pain?"

Toby shrugged. "Yeah, not that big a deal though really."

"Cool. So it seems that I have to hit you harder." He clicked his tongue.

"If you can hit me at all," Toby challenged, a laugh punctuating the end of his sentence.

"Funny, I was gonna say the same thing." Rocking his neck sideways, he took pleasure in the popping sounds could be heard. "I know what you're thinking, does he stand a chance seeing how the numbers are against him. To tell you the truth, I just finished off my third wave of kills under five minutes. So you gotta ask yourself, do I feel lucky? Well do you, punk!"

Clocky sighed. "And here I thought only Toby monologue before a fight."

Letting out a chuckle, Toby laughed, "I get that reference."

"God almighty help me it's a fellow nerd." Clocky muttered in agony.

 _Which is why you need to retreat._

Blinking rapidly, "Come again?"

 _Your body is unable to handle another fight. Comparing him to the cops from before, the odds are against us at this moment. If you fight right now, your body will collapse._

"Did I mention that I really hate you." He responded with a groan.

"So," Toby grabbed his attention. "Anytime now."

"As much as I like you Toby, I'm gonna have to take a rain check on that one." He explained, fixing him a friendly smile. "How does tomorrow night sounds?"

"Like hell you'll escape." Clocky stepped forward and growled. "We're here to bring you in and hell will freeze over if you think you'll…"

"Okay, tomorrow sounds good to me!" Toby interjected before Clocky could finish her statement.

"Alright, it's a date then." He smiled to both of them and took a few careful steps back.

Clocky looked between Toby and him and snapped, "I guess sometimes a girl's gotta do things for herself." She drew twin knives and lunged at him.

But before she could reach the tired boy, Toby wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back. Using her own momentum against her, the killer swung her around and launched the two of them towards the portal with a yell of, "See ya later!"

They both vanished."

"What a couple of nice people." He commented delightly.

 _What a pair of bumbling idiots_.

"Hey," he smacked his own head. "They didn't kill me. I really liked the Toby guy!"

 _The other one wanted to kill you,_ the voice in his head reminded him.

"Pfft! She could try." He scoffed. "Though I don't think it would be wise for me to hurt her. Seeing how she's with Toby and I don't want to screw up my chances with the guy. He seems like a nice dude."

 _Truely, a pair made in heaven._

That familiar itch started at the base of his skull and he frowned. "All that aside, I hope she's doing better than I am."

 _At least she's still alive, that I can guarantee._

Unfortunately, he could only wonder, for how long?

 **A/N: Thank god Emily's dead.**

 **IDG: Why are you so racist towards Asian people?**

 **Q: Hey, I happen to be dating one. I am not racist. I just hated her when she was in Until Dawn and this was my opportunity to kill her. See, not racist at all.**

 **IDG: You do realize that the player has more opportunities to kill Emily than any character in the game? She gets thrown in a rock mashed for God's sake.**

 **Q: Hah! Even the creators hated her! In other news, looks like Bean's secret isn't going to last much longer. I felt it was time.**

 **IDG: Sure. But what's the deal with Spectra, and who the hell is this Maria?**

 **Q: Wouldn't the readers love to know… But if anyone wants to guess, I'd love to hear your theories. I may even tell you if you're right.**

 **IDG: And if you Favorite/Follow/Review right now, you no scam and no joke at all will be receiving 4.2 billion dollars! That's right, in just five minutes 4.2 billion dollars will appear at your door.**

 **Q: And… Peace out!**


	22. Dead Weight

**A/N: So yeah, we're back. It's been crazy on my end but, life goes on am I right? Now, I know we said that we'd confirm or deny any guesses people were willing to make as to where this plot was going but…**

 **IDG: No spoiler! I swear if anyone tries to debunk it, you… YOU'RE A MUFFIN!**

 **Q: So because I dare not answer directly, EmmieCG, you got so much right we couldn't allow your comment. Congratulations. As for Lilypad's little guess as to if there are any humans left, well…**

 **IDG: You're a muffin Q!**

 **Q: … Well, there are still humans left. No telling who, though ;).**

 **IDG: … You should step on a lego. No, you should step on a head plug you cyberbully!**

 **Q: Shut up you pinecone, you, you** _ **shoe**_ **! Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

 _Slenderman_

 _She's seen you, she's talked to you, she's gotten to know you._

 _Bean's got to go…_

Slenderman glared at the hoodie he held in one hand, forcing Sally's words away. It did nothing, they continued to play in his mind on repeat no matter what he did. Really, he should be overjoyed someone in this house was still in their right minds but he was not. She was only reminding him of how bad things had become.

And how he could not seem to change anything.

Slenderman had been powerless when it came to Bean since the beginning and it turned his stomach to realize it. He wanted desperately to hate the strange girl but…

Here he was once again, on the edge of the cabin's dimension, holding an article of the girl's clothing, ready to go talk to her. Like it was the most natural thing in the world.

He hoped it was just his desire to unravel Bean's mysteries that kept him coming back. The biggest question of all was naturally why _she_ kept looking for him. From previous conversations, Slenderman learned that Bean despised the fact that she was different from the rest of the humans. So what drove her to meet up with him every night?

Well, she did not have much of a choice, but she had stopped fighting him fairly quickly. Why?

There were too many questions with Bean. Too many questions that did not possess straightforward answers. Both in the questions, she asked Slenderman and the questions he himself had about her.

And somehow, this unnatural curiosity had driven him forward into something much more dangerous. A feeling he still was failing to name and refused to believe existed. Yet still, he walked forward through Bean's woods, as he had come to think of them, unable to quite bring himself to stop.

Bean was waiting up for him, her strange and wondrous aura resting on the roof of the cabin. Slenderman chuckled softly. Ever so slowly, he was wearing her defenses away, reteaching her to be herself.

"Is the air nice up there my dear?" Slenderman asked Bean, mirth laced through his words.

Looking down from the spot of the roof she had taken root on, Bean's ocean blue eyes gazed down at him tiredly. "I was wondering if you'd come at all," Bean muttered sleepily into her knees, with arms wrapped around her legs. Her odd wings were folded naturally around her in an attempt to keep warm. Noticing the garment Slenderman held in his thin white hand, Bean uncomfortably added, "That's _my_ hoodie."

Fighting the urge to be sarcastic, Slenderman vanished, only to reappear beside Bean's hunched form. Instead of answering, he merely dropped it next to her. Glancing at it, Bean unfurled herself and grabbed for it slowly, as if expecting something terrible to happen. When nothing did, she hugged it close and buried her nose in it like it was some sort of security blanket.

"Thanks."

Slenderman still did not answer. Nothing that came to mind seemed to encompass how utterly screwed up this entire situation had become. Instead, he sat next to her and stared out at the night, trying to see whatever Bean had been watching so intently before.

"Someone else is going to die tonight, right?" Bean asked softly, eyes unfocused. When Slenderman glanced at her, miffed, she pointed to the fluffy ears that poked above the rats nest her hair had become. "They weren't exactly quiet."

"And yet, you do nothing," Slenderman pointed out coolly, turning away from her once more.

Bean froze momentarily at his words before biting her bottom lip, which trembled imperceptibly. "No point." Her voice shook, its pitches and lulls dripping with hopelessness and possibly a bit of cold resolve. "I'm just a monster and not even a useful one. If I tried to help, they'd only shun me later."

Slenderman felt mildly triumphant at her words. "So have you given up trying to be human when you so clearly are not?"

Bean's tail twitched but she only sighed. "Yeah, I guess." Fluttering her wings, she muttered, "I hate it, though. If I'm a monster, I'll always be alone."

"Not necessarily," Slenderman said slowly, watching Bean intently. "There are people like you out there. People who _will_ welcome you for who you are."

The laugh that escaped Bean's mouth was bitter and cold. "Who actually believes that shit? Who actually…" She shook her head. "Doesn't matter I guess. I'm used to it by now." Getting to her feet, Bean stared at Slenderman, an exhausted look in her eyes. "I've just got one question."

Slenderman nodded and rose off the roof. As he did Bean's head tilted back, her eyes never leaving him. "I assumed you would."

Bean smiled, but it held no joy. "Why the hell did you save me."

For a long moment, Slenderman stayed silent. Her question was without an easy answer, or even an answer at all. Of course, he had reasons, he must, they just eluded him. The quiet stretched on, not uncomfortably, almost somberly.

Finally, Bean broke it. "Since you're so interested in my past, I'm going to tell you a little story about these wings." At least for the time being, she seemed to be ignoring the fact Slenderman still had not answered her original question. Padding away from the tall monster, Bean continued, "I'm going to tell you because last night, I guess I remembered why in the end, I'll never choose to be human."

Turning away from Slenderman, Bean spread out her arms and walked across the roof. Her hoodie dangled limply from her hand until she dropped it. "You already know my foster family didn't like me, my wings, my ears, my _tail._ " Said tail was swishing tiredly across the roof tiles. "I didn't see what was wrong with them, even though no other children had them."

Well, it made sense. Slenderman knew from dealing with Sally that young children were usually less worried about what others thought of them. The idea of Bean not being ashamed of herself was an odd thought, though. Not bad, just unusual.

Bean slowly spread her wings and Slenderman could see the ungainliness that had characterized her movements when her wings were out had almost completely vanished. _And it only took us five nights…_ "Of course, when my parents first told me I had to hide my… _abnormalities_ like they were something shameful, I didn't. I was a child, why would I _ever_ listen?"

"And yet you ended up listening very closely to their words, even after they no longer could affect you," Slenderman pointed out, studying the slow broad strokes of Bean's wings as she slowly flapped them, not fast enough to gain any real lift from it but just enough to create a small breeze that slipped through the still air.

"Yeah well, I'm getting there," Bean muttered, combing her fingers through her hair absently, trying to free her smothered ears. "My parent's solution was to… To forcibly get rid of my wings. Which, in hindsight, actually makes a lot of sense."

Slenderman was pretty sure he was supposed to feel horrified, upset for her. In reality, he only nodded without speaking. Bean was not looking for pity, she was only telling a story. In the end, all he could do was listen, and try to keep the same things from happening to her again.

 _Not that I would… Right?_

"So they shopped around for a surgeon who would perform the operation I guess. I didn't get what they were really doing at first." The wing beats sped up and Slenderman could see Bean fighting to keep balance but for now, it was fine. If she fell, nothing bad would occur. "But eventually, I caught on. Of course, I was terrified."

"Naturally," Slenderman agreed graciously.

"I begged them, I bargained with them," Bean snorted derisively. "Not that it did any good. They were convinced if I was just a little more normal, everything would be fine. As if hacking off bits of me would change who I was.

"Eventually they found someone who seemed willing." Bean shook her head. "They set a date for the operation and everything."

"But…" Slenderman prodded. Because clearly, something had fallen through.

"Said he couldn't do it," Bean said offhandedly. "Said it would kill me, which was total bullshit by the way and my parents knew it." Her voice turned dark once more. "Even though they stopped looking, my parents told me if I didn't hide who I was, they would find someone else to perform the surgery and make me truly human."

"So you hid, just like they wanted," Slenderman finished, his words soft.

"Because in the end, I guess I didn't really want to be human," Bean agreed, tone flat and defeated. "I just thought I did."

Slenderman would have smiled if he could. "It pleases me to know you have at last seen the light."

"It's more the darkness but…" Bean took a deep breath and said in a strong voice. "I'm done being helpless. I'm done being useless." She turned and Slenderman was surprised to see a true smile gracing her face. "I'm going to be me, even if that means being a monster."

Fluttering her wings again, Bean added, "And that means learning to fly, no matter how hard it is."

"I am proud of you, my dear," Slenderman rumbled, a smile in his voice. Turning to stare out at the forest, he muttered, "I have little doubt that you will do fine."

A sudden blip on the fringes of his consciousness drew Slenderman's attention away from the winged girl before him. The feeling was one he knew well, it was the same sensation he experienced every time a portal was opened between the real world and the suspended realities Slenderman had created. Quickly, almost like a child who had been caught doing something wrong, he froze, listening, or rather, sensing the intruders.

As the portal opened completely, Slenderman was briefly aware of three separate auras. Two he knew well, one the deep gray of Clockwork's aura and the other the flickering black of Ticci Toby. The third he could only sense for a second before it vanished. Its bloody black was wholly unfamiliar to him.

"What's wrong?" Bean asked quietly, seeming to notice his odd stiffness and silent concentration.

Turning to face her, Slenderman graciously apologized, "I am most sorry my dear but it seems I must go." Before she had the chance to question him, he snapped out of existence.

* * *

 _Bean_

Surprised, Bean clenched her teeth against the migraine that flared up at the base of her skull as Slenderman vanished. Fluttering her wings, she took a step back and listened closely for any sign of him. _Gone again, and he never even answered my question._

With a sigh, Bean knelt down and picked up the hoodie that Slenderman had returned to her. Hugging it close, Bean took a deep breath and caught a whiff of pine and something she'd just come to equate to his visits. _Well, I should probably get inside,_ she reasoned tiredly, wrapping her tail tightly around her waist. _It's not like he's coming back until tomorrow._

Bean wasn't sure when she'd started looking forward to Slenderman's visits but it was definitely true now. Sure it made her feel selfish and made her realize just how dark she was herself but Bean didn't blame that on the odd monster that had wandered into her life because as he'd pointed out countless times, it was in her nature. And she meant it when she said she was done fighting herself.

 _I'm going to stop being a burden and the first step of that is accepting who I am so I can be equipped to handle myself._ As she stared out into the night, Bean ruefully realized that stating her intentions and then following through with them were two very different things and with only Slenderman to help her, she wasn't sure it was going to be as simple as she'd originally thought. _How am I even supposed to learn to fly?_

Unfortunately, she couldn't just go talk to one of the other girls in the house. Telling them she was a monster, after everything else that had happened, would be tantamount to signing her own death warrant. In a perfect world, she would have told Spectra but since their friendship fell through, it would probably be a stupid move. Bean resolved that she'd keep it under wraps, but only in the interest of her own safety. _Yet another mark of my own selfishness._ But for some reason, she was finding it easier to admit to it now than before.

Did that mean she was going to turn out like Slenderman, Bean sincerely hoped not.

With a sigh, the strange girl got to her feet.

From behind her came the sound of a very slow clap. " _Will you walk into my parlor?_ said the spider to the fly…"

 _Shit._

Very slowly, a sense of dread settling in the pit of her stomach, Bean spun to face the owner of the voice. There, standing behind her, a look of unimpressed irritation on her face, was Spectra. Suddenly appreciating just how fucked she was, Bean swallowed hard.

"And the surprises with you just keep on coming! Honestly, though, at this point, I think I'm past the point of you surprising me and now I sort of expect it." Spectra slowly paced forward towards the frozen girl, her tone disappointed while still sounding incredulous. "What else are you hiding little miss sunshine? A sixth toe perhaps?"

"S-spectra," Bean stammered, folding her wings up tightly to her back and cursing the bundle of nerves that was tearing through her newfound resolve like it was tissue paper.

"That's my name, yes." Spectra stared at Bean, deadpan. "Please, spare me your theatrics. We're way past that, don't you think?"

Fighting to keep looking Spectra in the eyes, Bean mumbled, "I wanted to tell you." Though she was becoming increasingly aware that Spectra's silence didn't mean she was actually as timid as she had once appeared, the piercing and cold look in the girl's eyes was still terrifying. For someone that had been talking with a humanoid monster that killed people for a week, Bean found herself being effectively backed into a corner just by Spectra's gaze alone.

"Oh, were you now?" Spectra walked around in circles around the girl, examining the wings and tail in a sort of miffed fascination. "Mm-hm, seems legit, I mean, you've only been lying to me since I met you but I'm _sure_ you had your reasons."

"I did have reasons!" Bean protested, flattening her ears to her head as Spectra's eyes roamed over them. "I was going to tell you," _Sort of maybe…_ "I swear I was!"

"Let me guess. After I was hacked into pieces, right?" Spectra guessed, rolling her eyes expressively. "Would you have gone and cried over my grave like Emily and Catherine?" Giving Bean a saccharine smile, Spectra continued, "Because I'm _positive_ that would have helped."

"I was…" Bean tried to start, leaning away from Spectra in a thinly veiled attempt to make herself look smaller.

" _Were_ you?" Spectra said, shaking her head. "Of course not. It's always been you and only you." Spectra glared into her eyes, finger poking at her chest.

"That's not true…" Bean protested, even though she knew her old friend was absolutely right.

" _Sure_ it's not. If I remember correctly and trust me I do, I told you not to go near that thing. begged for your help when I was accused of murdering my friends. And, oh, that's right, told you that there shouldn't be any more secrets between us." Spectra reminded her in a salty and aggressive tone. "With friends like you, who needs enemies!"

"Look, I'm sorry!" Bean shouted suddenly, her wings shooting out, pulling her away from Spectra. Her terror was quickly flipping into a defensive shield of anger.

"Sorry? And that's going to fix what?" Spectra shook her head. "You know what, no, don't even bother speaking. Nothing that comes out of your mouth is useful. It's either woe is me or some self-righteous bullshit. I can't believe I'm willing to say this, but Ellie and Sophie are better than you. Sure they're a pair of bitches, but at least they're honest bitches."

"What did you want me to say?" Bean snapped back, finally managing to meet Spectra's eyes and instantly wanting to crawl up and hide in a corner. "Hey Spec, I have a pair of fucking wings and a tail. Will you still treat me like I'm a human?"

"I'm not going to put words in your mouth. You should've thought about that beforehand." Spectra gave Bean a hard look and she was forced to look away. "I've gone through my share of shit Bean, you're not the only one. Stop acting like the world revolves around you and your problems."

"Yeah," Bean muttered through gritted teeth, "Well the world doesn't revolve around your fucked up version of honesty either. People lie Spectra, people hide who they are. I certainly didn't know you were anything more than a mouse because guess what, _you didn't tell me_."

Spectra bristled and was forced back ever so slightly. "There's a bit of a difference here, don't you think Bean? I made my intentions clear. I told you my conditions. You agreed to them, don't try to pin this on me in some sort attempt at erasing your own accountability. You're not entitled, you're not special. You've just got wings."

"Don't give me that bullshit," Bean growled, her voice raising. "You and I both know you haven't told me everything." Spectra opened her mouth as though she was going to refute Bean's point but the winged her girl shut her up. "Don't you deny it, I might be completely useless, I might not even know how to fly but believe me, these ears aren't for show and I know when you're not telling me everything. But you've got your reasons, don't you? And I had mine."

As she began to spit back an argument, Spectra froze and her eyes widened as she suddenly began to laugh. It wasn't the sort of chuckle that sometimes hits when you're arguing with someone and you realize how ludicrous the situation is, no this was a mocking laugh, directed right at Bean. "Oh my god," Spectra choked out. "You're pathetic. Are you seriously telling me you can't even fucking fly?"

Blinking, Bean actually backed up, unsure how to respond. Defensively she grumbled, "The opportunity to learn never came up. It doesn't matter, that's not what we were-"

"No but this is perfect," Spectra wheezed. "How much do you have to hate yourself to never even try to use those things." Clutching her stomach, she said, "Here I was just thinking you're a liar but in reality, you're also absolutely helpless and pathetic and you still think you have the right to talk down to me like you're somehow superior."

"I was trying to be human," Bean said, her voice quickly being reduced to little more than a mumble. "I just wanted to be normal, how is that a bad thing?"

"Well, last I checked, humans don't usually have children quite as deformed as you," Spectra said, still trying to stifle her laughter. "You don't even do a good job at pretending to be human! You seem to be having trouble being much of anything. So in other words, I guess you could count yourself special."

Faced with exactly the kind of rejection she had always feared, Bean quietly whimpered, "I don't know how to be normal, I don't know how to be a monster. No one ever taught me."

Spectra gave her a look that was all simpering pity. "And you're telling me this why? Do you think I'm going to help you?"

"I was hoping you would!" Bean squeaked.

"Why should I?" Spectra sniffed. "Why don't you ask your new best friend. You seem to have more in common with him."

"Well maybe I do," Bean said frustratedly. "But he doesn't understand, I might have been born a monster, but I grew up a human. I don't know how to do anything, I need someone's help!"

"Well big deal. You want to hear something really sad." Spectra stepped forward and got in Bean's face, making sure the girl was staring directly into her eyes. "You. Are. Not. The. Only one with horrible problems you don't know how to solve. Not a few months back, my heart stopped working."

Bean stood there in shock, her eyes widening as Spectra kept talking. "You probably don't even remember, it's not like we were friends at the time. I had to get a heart surgery. No biggie right? But wait, there's more. I didn't have much time in this world, and they didn't have a fully healthy heart. So I had to make a choice, either take the coward's way out or live the rest of my life knowing that I could drop dead at any moment. So gee Bean, I wonder what you would've done if you were in my shoes."

Bean took a shuddering breath. "I would have taken the coward's way out."

Spectra's eyes chilled as she stepped back. "Yeah, I know. But guess what, it wasn't that easy for me. I have reasons to stay alive, not because I'm seeking any sort of perverted form of justice for my dead sister. Not because I want to protect someone, no, I stayed alive for one reason." She blinked slowly. " understand that? Life isn't about doing what makes us happy and safe, it's about surviving. If you aren't the predator, you're going to end up as the prey."

Turning, Spectra slowly started walking away, back towards the door she'd come through. Suddenly, Bean spoke up. "Then show me! Show me how I should survive."

Spectra didn't bother turning back around. "What's the point? Why should I protect a dead weight like yourself?"

Without thinking, Bean blurted out, "Because that monster isn't going to kill me. I'm the only one who has a way out of here. Use me to get out of here as well."

Unexpectedly, Spectra deflated. "You think I'm that selfish? That I'd go against what I believe like that?"

Once again thrown off balance, Bean felt a little hope trickle into her mind. "I just- I'm not going to leave you here! But I need help, I can't do it alone." Looking away from Spectra, Bean added, "I know it's selfish but all I care about is the two of us surviving, I don't care about the others."

Spectra sighed. "I can't believe I'm listening to you after everything you've done but," She turned around and defeatedly muttered, "I care about my friends, and out of everyone here, for all of your flaws, you're the closest thing I've ever had to a friend."

Bean almost sobbed in relief. "Thank you, thank you Spec, I promise I'll listen to you from now on. I won't hide anything the monster and I talk about, I'll tell you everything. Thank you for giving me another chance."

Spectra snorted. "Yeah, I know, I'm soft-hearted." Giving Bean a half smile, she added, "It's a problem."

Responding with a smile of her own, Bean walked towards her friend, determined to not screw it up this time around.

* * *

 _Clockwork_

"Come on Clocky," Toby whined as she wrenched her arm out of his grip with more force than she'd usually apply with Toby, even when she was pissed with him. "You were going to kill the guy!"

"Don't you _Clocky_ me right now." Clockwork hissed furiously as the portal vanished completely, shooting a death glare at her boyfriend. "Killing him was the whole idea!"

"It wasn't going to be fair, no sport whatsoever." Toby tried to protest, bearing little to no result.

" _We're_ killers! Since when has it been about what's fair and what's not." Clockwork's tone came out as raspy from her dried throat due to the continuous yellings. "And why the hell are you defending him. A rouge CreepyPasta."

Toby simply shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. "I dunno. I kind of like the guy. Not to mention he didn't instigate the fight or really act all that threatening even though he looked dangerous." Managing to get in front of Clockwork, Toby quickly added, "I know what we're supposed to do but I just feel like we shouldn't be killing him so quickly, I mean, aren't you the one who's always telling me to think before I act? Isn't this thinking?"

"NO!" Clockwork huffed, crossing her arms. "This is bending to the point of breaking any number of rules. I don't care if he's a CreepyPasta or a fellow film fanatic or whatever! He's too near the game for it to just be a coincidence and we should have killed him!"

"It's actually called a geek." Toby pointed out under his breath. "And aren't you the one who wanted us to break the rules in the first place?"

"T-this is totally different!" Clockwork exclaimed, cheeks flushing red.

"I don't know, I mean, I'm all for it if you are but you have to admit, it's a bit fishy." Toby shrugged off his shoulders in response to Clockwork's statement.

"I've had enough. God, ten minutes with him and you're already acting like a smartass. It's so irritating." Clockwork messaged her temples and proceeded in calming down. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled and focused her gaze at Toby. "So what do we do now? We obviously can't tell anyone, or they'll accuse us of treason."

"And we need to take care of him or someone else will," Toby agreed. Furrowing his brows, the twitchy killer tilted his head. "Hey, do you think he has anything to do with your theory? Maybe he's connected to the possible CreepyPasta that you think is here?"

"Toby, that is absolutely ridiculous, of course, n-" Clockwork stopped mid sentence and pondered the killer's words for a moment. "Well… As much as I'd like to say that's stupid and too much of a coincidence to possibly be true," She gave her boyfriend a mildly startled look. "You might actually have a point for once. The kid did seem pretty eager to get into this dimension."

"I'm sorry, I should just keep my mouth sh- Wait, you believe me?" Toby looked genuinely surprised as if he couldn't believe something intelligent had come out of his own mouth. "Um, well, it's just a theory…"

"And _what_ pray tell, are you two doing here?" asked an ominous voice from behind them, startling the pair of killers into a hasty silence. Slenderman towered over them, irritability swirling about him.

For once, Clockwork deferred to Toby. "Boss! What a lovely night, wouldn't you agree?" Toby announced, wrapping an arm around Clockwork's waist and pulling her to him with a twitchy grin. "We were just… Walking?"

"Walking," Slenderman's aura darkened. "Of course, how could I be so silly." He phrased it like a question but it felt like a warning.

"Yeah, walking!" Clockwork chimed in, giggling in a way that she would never have normally. "You're right Toby, it's a lovely night for it!"

"So quiet and gloomy… " Toby laughed awkwardly under Slenderman's apparent glare. "And you boss?"

"And that third person who was with you just a moment earlier?" Slenderman demanded in a chillingly even voice. "Were _they_ enjoying the _lovely_ night as well?"

Toby swallowed hard and smiled faintly behind his scarf. "What third person?" He stuttered nervously, staring back at the non-existing eyes of Slenderman.

"It's just us." Clockwork insisted, wishing she'd paid attention to Zero when the girl had tried to teach her how to be a better liar. "Just Toby and Clockwork Sir. And you of course."

"Clocky and Toby, boss." Toby followed the statement with a nervous laugh.

"Do not lie to me," Slenderman growled, black tendrils closing in on them threateningly. "Do not take me for a fool.

"We're not sir," Toby responded in a lower and more frightening tone. "It's me, Toby. Your goofy proxy. _I'm_ the fool!"

"Anyways," Clockwork whispered, leaning back. "H-how's your killing going Slenderman?"

Slenderman jerked upright and all the unspoken threats retracted in, leaving the air breathable and empty. "My kill? That is my business to know and yours to not question again!" he snapped, almost defensively adding, "I suggest you take care of this certain _individual_ as soon as possible, whomever they are. After all, we do not need any more surprises, now do we?"

"Yes Sir, no Sir," Toby affirmed, his voice still shaky. "Right away Sir, I want to do nothing more than take care of the problem immediately. There's nothing to worry about Sir."

Still seeming a bit shaken, Slenderman nodded promptly. "For your sakes, I _hope_ so."

He vanished abruptly, leaving the two Pastas with headaches and a lingering sense of unease.

Even after the tall figure disappearance, the two's gaze never left drifted from the spot he was standing was only after a transmitted twitch into Clockwork's body that her eye started blinking again. "You know what Toby," she muttered, sucking in a breath. "Let's go with your plan."

"Huh? I think I heard that wrong, my ears are still ringing." Toby pressed his fingers beyond his goggles and rubbed his eyes so his surroundings were no longer blurry.

"Don't make me repeat what I just said," Clockwork swatted Toby's arm away and rolled her eye. "You heard me right. Against my better judgment, we'll go with your plan."

"O-okay," Toby stuttered before smiling. "That was a lot easier than I thought it would be."

"Strange, I thought there would more enthusiasm and a lot of 'in your face'." Clockwork mused with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, I never tell you you're right and here I am doing it twice in one night."

"I like staying in one piece," Toby remarked wisely, nodding. "I don't like to push my luck."

"Good choice," Clockwork said with a small smirk. "Now, where are those girls?"

"What girls?" Toby asked.

Letting out a small groan, Clockwork patiently reminded him, "The girls that we came for in the first place."

"But I thought we were looking for a CreepyPasta..." Toby muttered, shaking his head. "Someone really ought to make up their mind. Kind of like those two girls on the roof right now. They seem to be having trouble making a decision as well."

"Toby, not all of us live in a fantasy land where waffles walk into your mouth on cartoon legs," Clockwork muttered. "Kindly keep the delusions to yourself, this is serious."

"But I'm serious, there are definitely people on that roof," Toby insisted, pointing. "One of them even got wings. That or she's got the weirdest arms I've ever seen."

"Fine!" Clockwork threw her arm up in exasperation and followed Toby's gaze, fully expecting to see nothing. "Where is this mysterious fairy godmother of your-" Her eye widened as it landed on the two people standing on top of the cabin's roof, right where Toby had said they were. As her eyes picked out the odd shapes attached to one of the girls' back, Clockwork whistled softly. "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. Looks like we found our CreepyPasta."

"Yep," Toby agreed, eyes still fixed on the roof. "What are we going to do with it?"

"Well," Clockwork blew out a breath through her teeth. "As I mentioned previously, I'm just going to wing it." Toby snickered and she glared at him. "But if that's Jane's friend, I seriously misjudged her taste in friends. Who'd want to be friends with that thing?"

"That other girl apparently, and Jane," Toby answered at once.

"Maybe, or maybe there's more to it." Clockwork placed her hand on her chin and thought about it.

"And maybe that's not Jane's friend at all." Toby huffed. "Oh well, I've had enough fun, can we go home now?"

Clockwork raised a finger and followed Toby's statement. "That's a possibility. And the plot thickens."

"Clocky, home please." Toby looked at her pleadingly. "I don't want to be rude and leave you here but I'm not sure what else we're supposed to do. There are people on the roof, one of them has wings the other one doesn't. Boom, we observed. I'd like to observe some of those walking waffles you mentioned earlier now."

Clockwork jabbed Toby in the head, not that he could feel it. Nevertheless, it was worth a try, when it came to her idiotic boyfriend, it often was. "Fine. And remember to keep your mouth shut. We didn't see anything, we were on a romantic walk."

"Nope, didn't see nothing boss," Toby agreed, a cheeky smirk on his face.

"And don't call me boss, it sounds weird."

"Whatever you say Clocky."

With a sigh, Clockwork pushed Toby back towards the boundaries, a smile on her face. A thought crossed her mind and her expression soured. _Jane has got some questions to answer._

* * *

 **A/N: So my excuse is 2016 sucked but let's be honest-**

 **IDG: Nah, 2016 just sucked. There, our excuse.**

 **Q: So, Lilypad, by all means, get an account, I'd love to be able to PM you.**

 **IDG: And while you're at, smash that favorite and follow button. And to everyone, this is not a fucking scam. If you, yes you, the reader, favorite this story and share it, you'll get a… a… a Donald Trump. That's right. When you comment on or R/R this story, Donald fucking Trump will knock on your door and grant you one wish. This is not a scam, I'M NOT A FUCKING SCAMMER!**

 **Q: And… Peace out.**


	23. The War Of Two

**A/N: For once, I have a (mildly) serious author's note. As a guest pointed out, much to my chagrin, yes, this story's title is quite the misnomer. It was originally supposed to be 12** _ **Days**_ **to Die but I fucked up and well, that's how this story was named.**

 **IDG: Is it possible that there exists a universe where you don't actually fuck up for once… nah, I'm just thinking too much of it. It's 4:20 AM and I'm fatigued as a french fry.**

 **Q: The Russians hacked my story.**

 **IDG: You're too late for that train.**

 **Q: I know. I meme, but I do not meme with virtue. Oh well, at least I have this story to pour all my sadness and failings into *laughs awkwardly* right? Right. Enjoy everyone!**

 **IDG: You do that, and I'll try and finish Fallout 3 before dropping dead for the next 2 weeks.**

* * *

 _Sophia_

"After unpinning her from the wall, much like one takes down an unwanted notice from the company cork board, we have laid Emily to rest. At last, she can get her beauty sleep."

"Not that it would help," Ellie muttered in Sophia's ear, or rather, somewhere above her ear because Ellie was too lazy to actually lean down properly.

"Shut up, I'm talking," Sophia deadpanned, staring straight ahead at the freshly turned earth. "Emily was a good friend. A little heavy on the drink but then, I did six shots of vodka before coming down here. Despite the fact I could never tell if she was actually looking at me or if she was simply falling asleep, I'll quite miss her company. Though mocking her was reaching for the low hanging fruit and poking fun at dead people is only okay until the flies start to swarm, I suppose my day will be a little bit dimmer." Sophia's gaze dropped to the headstone. "Mostly because I'll be able to keep the alcohol to myself and therefore will get drunk faster."

Looking back up to find Bean staring off into space like some sort of zombie and Spectra glaring down at her, Sophia finished, "So Emily, wherever your irritating soul has ended up, I hope you don't run out of things to bitch about and I hope Catherine doesn't sit on you for all your cruelty. That would truly be a fate worse than death."

"Well spoken comrade," Ellie muttered mockingly.

"Wow, are you two actually so desperate that you have to shame the dead now?" Spectra commented wittily, glancing down at the grave one last time. "Ash to ash, dust to dust, whatever…"

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the salt line," Ellie muttered to Sophie before chuckling darkly.

"For you information Ellie, I couldn't sleep over the sound of my next door neighbour being crucified," Spectra responded, irritated.

"Then again, you were the first to find the body, so I guess that's excusable," Sophia reminded her, dead eyes going maliciously dark.

"And we were the first ones to find a dead body period!" Ellie announced. "So since this has just become a session of _probable killers anonymous,_ I should probably give my own testimony."

Setting down the Brass Monkey Sophia had concocted for her in the kitchen atop the headstone, Ellie said, "Emily, you were a shit leader who I goaded into making bad decisions 'for teh lolz'. You were unbelievably gullible but at least you knew when to shut up and listen to those more intelligent than thou." The blond haired girl raised her eyebrows and made a show of glancing down at Spectra.

"While you might have been a bitch," she continued pleasantly. "At least you were a _consistent_ one and not a little blue haired idiot who thinks the rest of us will respond to her being _bossy._ " Spectra opened her mouth to retort but Ellie held up a hand and exaggeratedly said, "Ah tch tch, I was _speaking._ "

Clearing her throat magisterially, Ellie said, "You had a talent that is not often seen in people these days, the art of not waking me up as you were brutally tortured to death. Thank you, I needed the sleep more than you needed to be rescued. Also, as an added bonus, I'm now the official leader. Whoopdeedoo for me." Retrieving her glass of hard liquor, Ellie waved to the others. "Carry on."

"Leader? Leader of what?" Spectra frustratedly demanded, "It's just me, you, your equally useless friend, and Bean. There's no one else left. Honestly, I'm genualy surprised that it took them this long to finally lower our number. One would think that with my poor life decisions, I would've finally been free from you two. But here I am, breathing, fucking amazing!"

"Actually, it is quite amazing considering how much of it you expend complaining," Ellie retorted, an eyebrow raised. "Somehow, I get the impression that while you might be a _wonderfully virtuous person_ somewhere _deep_ down, I'm the only one actually having fun. Perhaps you should try deep breathing?"

"How about I practice my deep breathing on your corpse?"

"Now you see, that would be intimidating," Ellie commented, waving her glass in Spectra's direction. "If you were, well, _intimidating_."

Sophia snorted but cleared her throat. "Silence children, your bickering is incessant. I feel a headache coming on."

"That's the vodka," Spectra quipped nastily. "I'm never going to follow a leader that acts anything like either of you. You're both insufferable and just plain mean. Who on earth would want to be friends with people like you?"

"People who have a sense of humor, Love," Ellie answered, adopting a lofty British accent. "Thankfully, you don't have to be my friend, you just have to listen to me." Sophia glanced up at her taller friend and Ellie, noticing her gaze, tapped her nose. "Some of us have been spending our time being productive rather than warding off the devil with a frying pan."

"And don't tell us it was just a phase Blue," Sophie added, narrowing her eyes and shooting Spectra a smile that was all teeth. The resentful girl bit back a retort and glared at her, violet eyes dark.

"So that leaves us with two option. A, either we let you go cuckoo until someone shows up to shut you up or B; you listen to what I have to say. You don't have to like it, just think about it, because so far, I've been right and no one else has. Think of it as midlife crisis advice." Ellie smirked and Sophia hid her own smile. Only Ellie could turn a funeral into a contest of wills to see who could out-think the other.

With a wave of her hand, Ellie said, "Thus far, I've been quite good at predicting what is going to happen. I was right about there being multiple killers. I was also right about this all just being a game."

At this, Bean's sunken eyes flickered to life and she flicked them towards Ellie before they died again. Sophia smirked. Watching Bean slowly begin to shut herself up was quite enjoyable.

"A game," Spectra hissed. "You think this is a fucking game? People are dying!"

"Darling, in the best games, people always do," Ellie answered loftily. "And I don't _think_ it's a game. I know it is."

"How," snapped the blue haired girl. "You don't know anything we don't. I thought _friends_ didn't keep secrets."

"Oh blue," Sophia simpered. "Acting like you're so self-righteous when you're the only one with something to hide." Shaking her head, Sophia said, "All of us have our secrets, it's just not all of us fight them off with a tent stake."

Ellie raised her eyebrows instead of raising issue. "Of course, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Indeed Spectra, friends shouldn't be keeping secrets. Which is why, in light of this latest murder, I feel like we need to find some solidarity here and I think the only way to do this is to stop accepting our fate sitting down and actually do something to keep ourselves alive for once."

"We can't survive," Bean whispered from beside Spectra. "There isn't a way out Ellie."

"Nonono, Bean. Spectra is supposed to be the hopelessly depressed one. You're the dumb bimbo," Sophie chidded, wagging her finger. "You know, since the last two bimbos died, god rest their ethnically diverse souls."

"That's racist," Ellie hissed, leaning over properly this time.

"Thank god we're all going to die then, amiright?"

Ellie rolled her eyes. "As I was saying, we are humans." She glanced at Bean as she said it while Sophia raised her eyebrows at Spectra. "Or at least, mostly humans. I personally am probably part cat. You know, if anyone is keeping score."

Sophia cleared her throat and Ellie quickly jumped back on track. "My point is, as humans it is in our nature to survive. So far, we've been lying back and accepting our fate like it is writ in stone. I say fuck it, let's beat these killers at their own game. How do I know it's a game? Because he told me."

Spectra's attention was instantly focused on Ellie. The calculating look in her eyes made Sophia's skin crawl and for once, the short girl wondered if she might actually be outmatched by the invisible girl in the faded green jacket from middle school. " _He?_ Who are you talking about?"

"My killer of course." Ellie bowed theatrically. "Now, while I know both you and probably Bean at this point according to the theory of the probability of averages," Bean might have stiffened at that but Sophia couldn't be sure. "Have had contact with your killers, I'm pretty sure that none of them have wanted to sit down and chat. Mine, on the other hand, was a teenager, who happened to be very chatty. Probably because he's never had sex in his life and is honestly more desperate than he is murderous. Then again," she shrugged. "He could be someone forever stuck in the body of a pubescent teenager."

"That's kind of stretching it. You're thinking too deep," Sophie suggested, hiding her curiosity. Ellie hadn't mentioned chatting with any killers, but then again, she very rarely mentioned anything. "Maybe he just wants to play more video games with you."

"Hang on," Spectra interjected, eyes flicking back and forth between the two of them. "You've had contact with this person multiple times?"

"Well of course. For better or worse, I happen to get the boring and rookie killer, and his equally bad sidekick. Though I'm not sure if it's his sister or if he's that kind of creep. Either way," Ellie shook her head and tried to stay on track. "This idiot happens to be the talkative kind of killer. How wonderful, my favorite."

"And what, pray tell," Spectra hissed. "Did this oh-so-talkative killer have to say to you?" Sophia could see right through the anger, right down to the almost malicious curiosity in her voice.

"Well at first he mentioned how pain in the ass you are." Ellie bluntly stated. Sophia snickered, knowing her friend was bullshitting Spectra but loving it anyway. "But once he finished stating absolute fact however, he actually confirmed a few of my suspicions."

Spectra gave Ellie a smile that was all teeth. "Oh, do continue. I'd love to hear the stupid things you found important enough to ask a killer."

Ellie smirked. "Well my darling Spectra, there's a price for that." Sophia watched as the blue-haired girl's smile turned into a snarl. "It's a simple one, but I insist."

Angrily, Spectra spat, "I'd rather make a deal with the devil than ta-"

"What is is?" Bean asked, silencing the furious Spectra.

Sophia smiled pleasantly. "I'm glad to see the virulent insanity hasn't spread to you too Bean."

Ellie nodded. "And since you're so amenable, I'll tell you. My terms are simple." She held up her fingers and started to tick off her requirements. "If it's a matter of this game, I need to know that I'll have everyone's full cooperation. You don't have to like it, in fact," she leveled a cool look at Spectra. "I suspect you'll hate it, but I need it nonetheless. If we're going to beat these things, we need to work together. I can't have the people at my back questioning me at every turn."

Spectra looked like she wanted to protest, but kept her lips pressed tight. Bean on the other hand, was nodding as if what Ellie was saying made perfect sense. Well, in Sophia's opinion it did, that didn't mean she was particularly looking forward to working with Spectra.

Ellie ticked off another finger. "Any and all pertinent information about this is to be given to me and shared with everyone else while we're at it. I'm not asking for full disclosure of your personal lives. Frankly, I don't really care, but I need to be told anything that could be of use for getting us out alive." She glanced at Spectra again. "Let's not turn this into a Chick Flick moment, just give me facts, that's all I need."

Seizing on an idea, Sophia interjected, "Wait, how many people here have had contact with their killers?"

Spectra and Bean both raised their hands, the latter somewhat tentatively. "As I suspected," Ellie muttered. "Let me guess." She pointed at Bean. "One killer, tall, black suit." Bean's eyes widened in surprise. "Yeah," Ellie said ruefully. "I thought I saw something outside your window."

"I have two killers," Spectra volunteered stiffly, eyes fixed on a point directly over Ellie's shoulder. "They don't work together. One's blind, and wears a blue mask. The other's a clown."

"Lucky," Sophia muttered. "With my luck, I'm going to get a real freak show."

"You think they'd waste the crazies on you?" Ellie asked, giggling. "Come on Soph, don't be that way."

"Well you obviously got the virgin-who-still-lives-in-mom's-basement kind of creep, so I'd say my prospects aren't looking to good," Sophia replied wittily.

"Speaking of my killers," Ellie said, jumping back on task. "One is a boy, probably looks younger than us, acts older. The other is a little girl." She shrugged. "Pink dress, short… That's all I've got."

"A little girl? You sure?" Spectra wondered. "Did you meet her or something?"

Tapping her nose, Ellie pointed up. "Now, I'm not saying you need glasses my little mouse, I'm just saying my vision's better than yours."

"It's a genetic condition, I'm not blind."

Ellie only smiled. "She watches us Blue, in the trees. Always closest to me." She shrugged. "She's quick, but she's not that quick."

Frowning, Sophia glanced up. She couldn't see anything, but she also knew that didn't make Ellie wrong.

"Any other stupid rules?" Spectra asked, drawing Sophia's attention away from the cloudy sky.

"Yes actually," Ellie's eyes lit up. "I want you to talk to your killers if possible." Sophia almost missed the quick look Bean and Spectra exchanged.

"You're crazy," Bean muttered softly.

"Yeah I don't think that's possible. Unlike yours, mine are the type of stab first ask questions later killers." Spectra muttered.

"Tsk, shame." Ellie mumbled, gazing at Bean. "How about you Bean, any chance you've managed to chat up yours?"

"I-" She bit her lip. "He doesn't really say much. Mostly, he just watches me."

Sophia snorted and held out her hand. "Come on Ell, I won that bet fair and square."

Rolling her eyes, Ellie slapped a five into her friend's hand. "Don't let it go to your head." Smirking, Sophia pocketed the bill and turned her attention back to Spectra, who was growing impatient.

"Anything else?" she snapped.

"No, that's about it." Ellie rolled her shoulders. "So, willing to take those terms? You've already been a great help to me, but I'd like to reciprocate, and I can only do that with your acquiescence."

Spectra paused momentarily, locking eyes with Ellie. "I'll think about it."

Sophia shook her head. "Not good enough Blue." She nodded towards Ellie. "She said no soul searching and I agree, but I know you and I want to know you're not going to stab us in the back before we tell you anything."

"You mean before _I_ tell her anything," Ellie corrected.

"You'll hear my answer tomorrow morning," Spectra stated with a strict tone. "Take it, or leave it."

Ellie lifted her chin and stared down at Spectra. "Not good enough. You have until tonight."

"Very well then. Have fun with your master plans." Spectra spat. "You can do this without me."

Bean touched her arm and blinked rapidly when the girl shook her off. "Come on Spectra, please don't be like this."

Spectra stared at her and Bean held her gaze for a moment before flicking her eyes to the ground. "Spec's right," she mumbled. "Give us till tomorrow or the deal's off."

Sophia's eyes narrowed as Spectra smirked triumphantly.

Ellie took a quick breath before reforming her own smile. "Hey, it's your loss, my gain. I'll take an answer tomorrow if that's the best you can do. As for right now, I'm already tired of standing around where we're vulnerable." Jerking her head towards Sophia, Ellie causally said, "Imma go back to the cabin. You two do you."

"Wait, so we don't have to stay indoors anymore?" Bean demanded, sounding shocked.

Ellie shrugged. "I'm going to take a more liberal approach than Emily. You two know your killers better than I do. If you're both confident they won't attack while you're outside, then go for it darlings! The only one here who really has to worry is Sophia because we still don't know what she's dealing with."

Spectra drew in a breath. "Okay, I can work with that. I'll see you two later."

Grumbling under her breath, Sophia watched the two girls walk towards the trees and get lost among them. "Are you sure that was wise?" she asked her taller friend, hurrying to catch up.

"What else do you think they'll do?" Ellie smirked. "Spectra might even have a chance of survival if she gets attacked, but honestly, I don't think the killers will strike unless either one is alone." Flippantly, Ellie said, "And if they want to go plot our demise, they should be able to without hinderance. I believe in freedom of mutiny after all. What's the worst they can do? Throw another tantrum?"

"I'm thinking it would be a bit more serious." Sophia bit her lip for a moment before admitting, "There are some things you don't know about that girl Ellie."

"Oh yeah," Ellie raised her eyebrows mockingly. "Like what?"

"She's supposed to be dead," Sophia muttered under her breath, not pausing when Ellie stopped in her tracks.

"Oh- _ho_ , so that's how this is." Ellie chucked and Sophia turned around, irritated. Ellie tilted her head to the side and lifted her now empty glass. "Do tell this story that you so obviously have for me."

Huffing, Sophia quickly said, "We went to the same highschool, I never really knew her though. I think she was in my Science class. What I do know is that there was an accident or something involving her and another student who I don't remember the name of anymore. They found him dead. Her, well, they never recovered her body but you know the rumor mill. We didn't need a body, everybody knew she was dead regardless."

Crossing her arms, Sophia admitted, "I'm not actually sure it's even the same person. If it is, then she's changed her name. The girl that died was named Emily White? Yellow?"

"Green?"

Sophia snapped her fingers before furrowing her brows. "Wait, how did you know that?"

"She had a sister didn't she? Maria Green." Ellie shrugged. "I used to read my paper's obituaries for fun, the girl died in my town. Brutally murdered actually"

"Maria Green, yeah. She was a total Queen or something back in school." Sophia said, mulling it over. "Total control over her grade. I fucking hated her, but I gotta say, I respected her too. If you were on her good side, she was the best ally you could ever hope for. If not well…" Sophia shrugged. "She had a way of shutting people up that even you couldn't beat."

"So, the question is, why can't you pinpoint the sister of the most popular girl in school?" Ellie asked, tapping her chin. "Knowing you Soph, you'd remember something like that."

Sophia looked down. "That girl was invisible. No one knew her."

Ellie was silent for a moment, until the sound of crunching twigs alerted Sophia to the fact she'd started moving again. "Well, I gotta say, if it is the same girl, then I probably should give her a bit more respect. It takes class to fake your own death to get away from your killer."

"Or die and come back to life. That's the other possibility." Sophia offered bluntly, falling into step beside her friend.

"Well if she did rise from the grave, then maybe we should _actually_ befriend her instead of just tolerate her. She might let us on her secret." Ellie snickered sarcastically. "Or, you know, we can let bygones be bygones and just try and survive." As she opened the front door of the cabin, Ellie added, "Because, let's be real here. She's not nearly clever enough to have come back from the dead."

Sophia's eyebrow twitched but she didn't say anything. For once, and she rarely ever thought this, the tiny girl wondered if her friend might be wrong.

* * *

 _Spectra_

"Fuck Ellie." Spitting venomously, Spectra threw another rock into the splashing stream. "Fuck her equally stupid friend." With a fair amount of force, she threw another rock from the pile she gathered. It bounced off the dirt embankment and tumbled into the undergrowth. "And fuck this stupid, tiresome, so-called _vacation_." Following the pattern, yet another rock found itself drowning in the narrow stream. "They can all just go to hell!"

With a loud growl, she tried to let the frustration out of her system. "Join us they said, it'll be _fun_ they said." Taking a deep breath, Spectra slowly calmed down. Rolling her neck, she plopped down on the edge of the shallow ravine and stared out darkly at the peacefully swaying greenery, still annoyed, but manageably so.

"Um, Spectra?"

Spectra's ears caught the squeak coming from her friend. She turned around and saw Bean staring back at her. The girl was still sitting on the same rock she'd sat down on when they'd first stopped here. Bean's thick fluffy tail that rested in her arms was the only addition. "Shouldn't we go back?"

"Right, forgot you had one of those," Spectra muttered as an aside under her breath. Shaking her head to clear it, she said, "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Shouldn't we go back?" Bean quietly inquired. "I don't think it's wise to stay out after dusk."

"Yeah, I mean no." Spectra rapidly shook her head, trying to straighten out her train of thought. "We should wait until the cost is clear. No doubt those two nerds are waiting for us. Enough people know about your little secret as it is."

Bean pressed her lips together and hung her head low. "Sorry."

Letting out another frustrated sigh, mostly at herself, Spectra said, "No, I'm snapping at you." She took another deep breath. "Sorry, my head is just killing me right now. Ellie and Sophia screwed me up from both sides."

All Bean did was nod in agreement. "Um, I've been meaning to ask you…"

"What?" Spectra managed to keep her tone gentle, which was probably good. Bean looked about ready to bolt.

"Uh," The girl dithered and Spectra could see her tail twitch. "Ellie got me thinking about stuff and I just kind of went with my gut response because we were going to work together and I didn't know what you wanted me to say an-"

Rolling her eyes, Spectra muttered, "Spit it out would you?"

Glancing up at her in startlement, Bean blurted out, "What are we going to do?"

Spectra raised her brows. "What do you mean?"

"It won't be long before he visits me again," Bean replied quietly as she raised her head. "I don't think he'll be happy if he finds you with me when he comes."

"Bean," Spectra rolled her eyes and sighed. "I think I can handle myself. I already survived two attacks, and I doubt they'll send three killers after me." Hissing through her teeth, Spectra added, "As much as I hate to admit it, and believe me, I hate it, I think Ellie is right when she guesses two killers per girl is the max. I've met my killers, I'm good."

Bean bit the bottom of her lips and stayed quiet.

Spectra turned away from the timid girl and observed the path that led to the cabin. _Can't go in just yet._ She looked back at Bean who was holding dearly to her tail like it was a security blanket. "You really need to do a better job hiding those... extra parts."

The hair of the furry tail stood tall as Bean's body flinched. "I can't help it when I'm nervous. Usually, they don't show but you were kind of just throwing things and shouting and..."

Spectra's lilac eyes narrowed as she muttered irritatedly, "Great, more free time in the wilderness, where there are killers, and danger. _And you…"_ The last bit she muttered under her breath.

Bean's tail flicked out of her grasp and swished around her nervously. "Don't talk about them. It really creeps me out when you put it that way."

Spectra held her hand in front of Bean's face. "Bean, until I find a solution to get us out of this hole you dug for yourself, I'm gonna need some silence please." Bean nodded obediently and clamped her mouth shut tight.

Spectra nodded in acknowledgment and observed her options. It was too risky to head for the cabin what with Bean's state, so she would have to improvise. Unfortunately, she had never been a terribly quick thinker, especially when cold and irritable.

"Having trouble little sister?"

Just like oil floating to the top of a puddle of clear water, the sickeningly familiar sound slipped into skull and through her ear. _Oh you've gotta be…_

She quickly spun around and spotted the ghost of her big sister sitting next to Bean, perched on the very edge of the rock like some sort of fair maiden. A quirky smile covered her face as she twirled her fingers towards Spectra in some semblance of a wave. "Hard to see you as the _forgiving_ type. You never were before."

"You shouldn't be here," Spectra breathed, gritting her teeth and praying Bean hadn't heard her.

"Oh? And where should I be then? Hanging around with the maggots that are eating my face?" Her body levitated from the ground and gently floated next to Spectra. "Or maybe just rotting in the deepest recesses of your mind?" Her invisible hands rested on her shoulders as she whispered with a smirk. "My, my, you sure have a lot of meat and bones. You wouldn't mind sharing some with your dearest big sister, would you?"

As the cold chill of contact, or rather, lack of it trickled down her spine, Spectra couldn't help but raise her voice. "Stop touching me."

Bean jumped slightly from her spot, mildly confused. "I-I didn't touch you, I swear."

"What?" Spectra gaze quickly shifted from her sister and towards Bean. "No, I didn't mean- I meant, uh…" She already had enough trouble to share with Bean, losing her mind wasn't exactly an entree she wanted added to the plate.

"The bugs maybe?" Maria offered with a gentle gesture.

"The bugs! Yes, mosquitoes and all that." Following her statement, she gave herself a quick smack against her neck. _God, I'm worse at faking this than even Bean is._

"Where would you be without me?" Maria smiled innocently, shaking her head in an almost condescending sort of way.

"Getting happily drunk in a motel, best guess," Spectra angrily growled under her breath.

"What?" Confused, Bean swung her head around again. Spectra almost groaned when she saw fuzzy ears twitch up from under the rat's nest that was Bean's hair.

"I said we should start moving towards the other direction," Spectra replied audibly before adding, "We'll follow the river till it comes to one of the set trails and then we take that back home. If I'm correct, then by the time they fall asleep, we'll be making a full circle and arrive at the cabin."

Bean nodded in agreement. "You sure we won't get lost? I know Ellie said she didn't care but don't you think-"

"Well Ellie says a lot of shit." Spectra snapped, enraged, before fully thinking through Bean's words and taking a deep breath. "And sometimes, on the rare occasions when she takes her head out of her own ass, she says some mildly intelligent things. We both know who's coming for us, there's no need to stay huddled up like flightless birds."

That remark prompted a snort from Maria. "Calm down honey, take a Xanax or something before you pop a vein."

Before Spectra could throw a fit, she came to the conclusion that it was best to ignore her sister. "Let's start walking. The faster we move, the faster we'll be home."

Without waiting for Bean to respond, Spectra started down the creek's edge, grumbling as Maria walked next to her with that irritating smile still on her face. Facing forward, the girl pretended like her dead sister _wasn't_ floating next to her and it was just some fog or something. It made things easier.

"You can't ignore me forever, you know." Maria pointed out, peevishly. However, Spectra did so and kept on walking. "Oh I see, the silent treatment. Don't worry, I'm used to it. You never talk to me anyway." _Like you ever stopped to talk to me!_ Spectra didn't say it, but it was close.

For once, Spectra was thankful to hear Bean's voice. "So… I was wondering…"

"Bean, if you're gonna speak, then do so. Don't half-ass it You won't get anywhere in life if you don't stand up for yourself. Believe me, I was pretty timid back in the day as well. I would know."

"Actually," Bean hurried forward till she was right at Spectra's heels. "That's kind of what I was wondering about. Why does Sophia seem to hate you so much? Did you guys used to know each other or…" Frustratingly, she trailed off again. _Oh well, it takes time…_

"I doubt it. I would never have been friends with someone who was such a pain in the ass and I don't remember knowing any Sophias."

"Aw, my poor little sister. No friends," Maria simpered mockingly. "No one for her to remember and no one to remember her."

Spectra continued to pointedly ignore her. "Although, I did switch schools after my sister left for college."

"Never got to finish that, did I?" Maria said silkily. "Or even start properly. What a shame. I had a full ride and such _excellent_ grades."

Spectra rolled her eyes. _Yeah, flirting with the teachers doesn't equal excellent grades._ "Anyways, I probably had the displeasure of meeting that midget at my old school but thankfully, I changed schools, so I never had to get to know her."

"That didn't answer my question," Bean muttered awkwardly. "I really wanted to know why Sophia seems to have it out for you. I mean, especially if you never knew each other, it just doesn't make sense."

"Bean, we're stuck in a dome of energy, you have a tail sticking out of your butt and a pair of misshapen wings growing out of your back. On top of all that, we're being hunted by a gang of American Horror Story rejects. Tell me which of these things make sense again?"

Huffing, Bean crossed her arms. "I just wanted to know. Honestly, Sophia's _never_ liked you, ever since Makenzie-" She tripped a bit over the name before hurrying on. "Since Ellie and Sophie were brought into the group a year ago. It's making things difficult and since everything is so crazy, I was hoping to make sense of a little piece of it."

"Well don't. I stopped questioning a lot of things lately." Spectra commented with a dry tone. "And who cares why Sophia has beef with me, she'll most likely be the next to die anyway. And quite frankly, I have a policy against hitting girls who haven't hit puberty yet."

Bean snorted softly and Spectra even managed to crack a smile. "Yeah, I guess. I was just curious. You aren't exactly open about your past."

"Neither are you," Spectra pointed out, chuckling under her breath. Easily rolling her shoulders, the blue-haired girl continued, "Everyone's got their own skeletons. Granted mine aren't attached to my back like yours but the principle stands."

"No, yours are probably just in your head," Maria stated. "And sometimes in front of you." She drifted in front of the girl and sighed in annoyance when Spectra walked right through her. "Can you please cease this silliness Spectra darling, I'm growing bored."

From behind her, Bean muttered, "They aren't skeletons. At least I have a chance to use them to my advantage. I don't have to let them hold me back."

"Bean, you're not a butterfly okay? You can't camouflage yourself to escape from danger." Spectra rolled her eyes and clenched her teeth when Maria chose to snigger unhelpfully. "Freak shows don't exist anymore. With those wings, you have nowhere to go."

"That's why I want to learn," Bean stubbornly insisted. "I'm never going to be normal, why bother trying to run from it?"

Spectra stopped in her tracks suddenly, something Bean wasn't expecting. Immediately, she tried to both stop and catch up with Spectra only to stumble dramatically and flail her arms in an effort to keep her balance. In the end, all she managed to do was land face first in the new fronds sprouting up from the dirt.

"You know Bean if you can't keep your balance on foot, I'd hate to see you fall from the sky and break your everything." Spectra leaned over Bean and looked down at her, a smirk on her face.

"Oh, well if you know so much then why don't you teach me or something," Bean snapped, spitting dirt from her mouth while she abruptly started shrugging out of her hoodie.

"Nah," Spectra straightened her spine and was barely able to see what was coming. With lightning quick reflexes, the girl dodged back just in time to avoid getting a face full of bat wing. Bean shook them out and Spectra rolled her eyes as a stray feather fluttered to the ground. "I'd rather not…"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Bean turned to look at her pathetically, her bottom lip stuck out like a petulant child's. "Please, just a little help."

"Hooray, does this mean you'll talk to me again?" Maria cupped her hands beneath her chin and smiled warmly. "Because we both know just how much you don't like Bean."

 _Then again,_ "Actually Bean, I've just changed my mind. Looks like I'll be taking you under my wing for the night."

"Ugh, I've never been so offended sister." Maria placed her hand against the gaping hole in her chest and seemed genuinely hurt. "You're not playing fair."

"That wasn't funny you know," Bean muttered with a sigh.

Raising a brow, Spectra said in a low deadpan, "I actually didn't notice that."

"You've been hanging around that boy for too long." Maria puffed angrily and crossed her arms. "He's been filling your head with his lame ass puns."

"All of those terrible puns put together beat listening to you whine for five seconds," Spectra muttered through her gritted teeth.

"What?" Spectra sighed at Bean's puzzled expression. _I've got to stop talking to Maria out loud._

"Okay, so, first of all, you need to get it through your head that you weren't actually built entirely for flying," Spectra started out of nowhere, hell bent on completely tuning out her sister. "I'm guessing your bones are less dense and your wings appear to be large enough to support you but that doesn't change the fact that you're vaguely human shaped and not at all aerodynamic."

"Which means…" Bean looked hopelessly lost.

Spectra groaned. "Now I'm not fat shaming you or anything, it's a generally human problem and it means you're going to need to flap a lot more sweetie."

With great trepidation, Bean did just as she was told and pumped her wings, sending leaf litter and debris everywhere and almost knocking herself over in the process. Spectra pinched the bridge of her nose and practiced her deep breathing. _This is gonna be a long night._

"Okay, I didn't mean do it now, but whatever. Did you feel that? The force pushing you off the ground?" Bean nodded and Spectra tried to force an encouraging smile. "You need to use enough power so that _that_ force gets you off the ground. Think you can do that for me?"

This time, Spectra had the good sense to stand back as Bean tried flapping her wings for a second time. Setting her jaw in determination, the fox-eared girl tried again and Spectra was pleasantly surprised to see her get a few inches off the ground before stumbling back to the earth.

"It's probably the tail." Spectra nodded as she examined Bean's body. "Birds and other flying creatures have less... Obtrusive things attached to their asses. Mainly, feathers to help adjust flying and not fur for decoration."

Nodding with a look of almost comically intense concentration, Bean flattened the fur on her tail and wrapped it around her waist. "Better?"

"Worth a try." Spectra simply shrugged and took a few steps back. "I'm not an expert in abomination hybrids."

"Well, you always do seem to have more of your shit together than I do," Bean muttered before giving another powerful flap. This time there was no stumbling but then, Spectra could have done the same just by jumping.

"You know, mamma birds usually encourage their babies to fly by throwing them out of the nest," Maria suggested. "Now, I'm not saying that you produced anything even remotely this ugly, but I mean, there's the ravine, and she _probably_ won't die…"

 _Well, she's technically not wrong._ "Hey Bean, I may have an idea." Spectra suggested with a hint of stutter. "You might get hurt. A strong emphasis on 'might'."

Bean caught the girl's none too subtle glance towards the edge of the ravine. "W-whoa, you're not-" She backed up, looking genuinely panicked. "Spectra, I've already gotten thrown off enough tall things for a lifetime. That's how that monster tried to teach me to fly, by throwing me off the roof." She was babbling by now. "Please don't do this."

"Alright, fine. I won't do it." Spectra held her hands up in defense.

Bean swallowed the lump in her throat. "R-really? You promise?" Tentatively, she started moving back towards Spectra. _Just like a baby bird..._

"Sure, scout's honor." Spectra stretched an arm around Bean and fixed her with a friendly smile. Almost at once, Bean returned the smile.

"Unfortunately, I was never a scout."

"Wha-" Before Bean could finish her sentence, Spectra forced her hand against Bean's back and pushed her off the cliff.

It was a little disappointing. For a moment, Bean just tried to grab onto the crumbling rock around her. Then, as if remembering that she had a way to save herself, the girl snapped her wings out and pumped them furiously, struggling to keep herself from falling further. Just when Spectra thought that Bean might actually prove not to be a total failure, a stray root caught the feathers of the girl's angel with and she faltered, before tumbling into the bushes at the edge of the stream.

Spectra observed the crumpled heap of a girl below, blase. _Well, not all baby birds make it._

" _Little sister,_ " Maria whistled appreciatively. "I mean, I knew you were cold but I _never_ thought you were this cold." She was gazing down at the fall Bean just took. "Is she dead?"

"Let me check. Hey, Bean!" Spectra cupped her mouth with her hands and yelled. "You alive down there?"

Just then, she noticed Bean's tail twitched spasmodically. A moment later the girl's mismatched wings fluttered haphazardly. "Yeah, she'll be fine," Spectra reasoned.

"The more cold acts you commit, the more you seem to enjoy it." Maria placed her hand on her hips and smirked. "If I didn't know any better, I'd mistake you for a serial killer. What with the pale skin, the blue eyes, and that suspicious jacket you always wear, you certainly look the picture."

"For the last time, it's a genetic condition. You of all people should know about my eyes and skin." Spectra snapped irritatedly at her sister. "And what's wrong with my hair and jacket? I happen to like them just the way they are."

"You look like a reject from last season's hot-topic."

"Well then, it's a good thing I don't shop there." Spectra scoffed and crossed her arms.

"Well, this has been fun. As an added bonus, you're finally talking to me again." Maria wrapped her arms around Spectra neck from behind. "I guess you prefer your big sister than that annoying friend of yours. You really didn't have to forgive her and yet you did. So out of character for you. Unless…"

Spectra raised a brow and spun around to face Maria. "Unless what?"

"You have an angle." Maria guessed.

Spectra took a glance down the cliff and observed that Bean was still knocked out cold. "Bean isn't a person I'd forgive easily, or even ever. Whatever that thing that's stalking her is, he's my ticket out of this hellhole." Spectra explained in a dry tone. "I've gather that no matter what, he won't hurt her. And as long as I'm around her, I have a bargaining chip ready to be cashed at the right time. And Bean is too much of a coward to notice that I'm actually playing for team me. She wants a friend to lean on, a buddy to feel safe around, a person to feel normal."

"And here I thought you had lost that delicious backbone you just grew." Maria examined her nails critically before smirking from beneath her lashes. "I hate to say it, but it seems like he's had a good effect on you."

Her ghostly image was lost to the light breeze, leaving Spectra feeling like her skin was crawling with unseen insects. "Very funny Maria." She blew into her cupped hands to relieve herself from the cold chill contaminating her body.

From below, Bean suddenly called, "I'm okay!"

With a very slow sigh, Spectra muttered out of the corner of her mouth, "I gathered."

* * *

 _Ellie_

"I'm just saying, it's sketchy," Sophia insisted, laying back and letting the controler fall to her chest.

Ellie rolled her eyes and tossed her own controler to the carpet. "And I've already agreed with you. It is sketchy, but you think everything about Spectra is sketchy. Maybe there's some darker secret to their reconciliation but come on, maybe Spectra has a thing for bad relationships."

Sophia wrinkled her nose. "Ew, just ew. I really don't want to think about what gets Spectra off."

Snorting, Ellie threw a pillow at Sophia's face. "Get your mind out of the gutter. That's my house." Rolling her neck, relishing the sharp pops the action produced, Ellie yawned and added, "Besides, you already have the trashcan."

"Excuse you," It was obvious from the mumble in Sophia's voice she was tired. "I am _recycling_ bitch." Snatching the pillow from where it had fallen, the tiny girl stuffed it under her head and muttered, "You exhaust me."

"And you make me hungry," Ellie returned, only just noticing the hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Phrasing," Sophia murmured, amused. "Whatever, you go get a snack or something. Imma take a nap."

Rolling her eyes at how fast her friend turned over and drifted off, Ellie muttered under her breath, "And we say _I'm_ the cat." Slinking to her feet, Ellie let her discarded jacket fall off of her before ambling from the room.

The moment she closed their bedroom door, Ellie felt the fine hairs on the back of her neck rise. "And you think you know a guy," she muttered, already getting that same feeling she did whenever she was being watched. Without hurry, Ellie sashayed towards the balcony and raised her eyebrows when a head of brown curls darkened her view. "Or girl, I guess."

 _Well, we always knew it would happen sometime. I'm surprised Ben was willing to let her do the honors._ Slipping her hand to her pocket, Ellie furrowed her brows in annoyance. Her largest knife was in her jacket which, as luck would have it, was back in her room. Irritated, the lean girl fingered the pathetic cheese knife wedged into the waistband of her skinny jeans. _Welp, I'm too lazy to arm myself. Let's do this shit!_

Wandering towards the stairs like she had nothing better to do, Ellie slunk down towards the living room, trailing her hand along the banister without hurry. "You know," she mused aloud. "It's rude not to knock first." Languidly, Ellie turned to face the small girl perched atop the counter in the back of the kitchen, under the cupboards. "But then, you people are _never_ polite."

"At least we don't mock people for their age." Ellie gave the girl a studious once over. Pink dress, brown hair, devilishly big green eyes, fresh blood, dripping slowly from her face. The tall teen was almost disappointed, but then, she really shouldn't be tempting fate with a killer in her kitchen.

"Well Sally," Ellie was delighted to see the girl's eyes narrow, confirming her suspicions that Sally was indeed the girl's name. "I did apologize to Ben, but can you really blame me? You don't look a day over seven."

"I'm seven and a half, thank you very much," Sally turned her nose up in offence, and Ellie couldn't help but chuckle.

"Quick question, it's obvious that you're more mature than you look," Ellie started, swinging into the kitchen and leaning on one of the high stools at the bar. "So I'm guessing you don't age. Or, are you actually dead?"

"Both," Sally admitted, kicking her legs playfully. "But only as far as you know. I might know more, but that just gives me the upper hand."

Ellie snorted and rolled her eyes, something she was quite talented at. "Leave your mind games at the door darling, I only speak in backhanded compliments and snide remarks." Rummaging around in the cupboards, pretending not to care about turning her back on Sally while in reality keeping the stained pink dress in the corner of her eye, Ellie grabbed haphazardly for several bottles of alcohol.

"You're one to talk," Sally remarked playfully, as if she wasn't actively plotting Ellie's death. "You and I both know you're doing your best to play everyone here. Even Spectra, who you're having trouble keeping under your thumb. Even little Sophia, who you claim is your best friend."

Clunking the bottles carelessly to the island counter, Ellie let a smirk slip over her lips. "Look at you, thinking you've got me all figured out. For your information I've never bothered to play Spectra, we just happen to have a common concern. Ourselves." Reaching into the cupboard beside Sally's head, Ellie pulled a couple glasses from the shelve. "And as for Sophie, well, I'm only twisting her out of harm's way."

"Still twisting her though, still manipulating her," Sally hummed softly and Ellie tensed up as she realized what the small girl was trying to do. "Still playing her like a g-"

"Ha!" Ellie's short bark of laughter cut through Sally's remarks, just as she had intended it to. "I see what you're doing, playing me like a fiddle, right into your hand." Ellie's face twisted in a grimace as she turned away from Sally. If she wasn't careful, she could find herself falling behind. "But don't you see, I'm not just any girl, I'm not just any _human_ , I'm _sure_."

"Sure?" Sally didn't sound the least bit perturbed, something Ellie hoped to remedy quickly.

"Certain. Of myself and myself alone." Turning back to the alcohol, Ellie snatched the Gin and Whisky from the collection she'd pilfered. After pouring herself a generous measure of whisky, Ellie shook her head and a smile found its way back on her face. Leveling out some gin, the girl theatrically scoffed and said, "Where are my _manners_ Sally." She offered the tiny girl the alcohol. "Please, I _insist._ "

Sally raised a single eyebrow. "You just offered a minor an alcoholic beverage." Her small fingers wrapped around the sturdy glass. It looked massive in her diminutive grasp. "You should be ashamed."

Ellie chucked as Sally raised the glass to her lips and gagged on the dry, bitter taste. "Correction, I just offered alcohol to a _dead_ underage killer." She smirked as Sally shook her head involuntarily before forcing another swallow. "I'm pretty sure there are some bigger problems here than my scruples."

"Perhaps," Reforming her small smirk, Sally leaned forward towards the lanky girl. "But I wouldn't know. Why don't you enlighten me? You seem to think this entire thing is just some big game."

 _Oh yes, strike my suppositions, where I'm weakest. What would a child like you know of this?_ Ellie's smile was replaced with a frown. "I don't know Sally," she started, deftly measuring out some angostura to her rye whisky. "I'd say your immodesty is the biggest issue here."

Sally's cheeks colored as she stuck her lip out in a small pout. "And what would _you_ know of that?"

 _Ah, a sore spot then. Hm… I wonder why…_ "Oh," Ellie shrugged, reaching for the vermouth. "I dunno. I suppose it's none of my business if you want to wear little pink bloomers everywhere and flash them to the world. I mean, I strip when I get terribly bored so I can't really judge."

"Not that you have anything worth looking at," Sally spat nastily, little fists clenched tight.

"Hey, at least I'm not getting ogled by pedophiles dearest," Ellie simpered.

The glass in Sally's hand shattered.

Smile dying on her lips, Ellie took a moment to reevaluate what she was dealing with. _Apparently being dead has its benefits. I wonder how strong she really is. It would be quite lackluster if she overpowered me._ "But let's not compare cup size," Ellie continued as if nothing had happened. Waltzing over the shards of glass, the girl dug through another cupboard. "Let's talk about why you're here."

"Why do you think I'm here?" Sally deadpanned, or at least, gave her closest approximation of a threateningly flat voice.

"Cute, but I wouldn't think that that brother of yours would send you alone to kill me." Ellie gave up looking for the maraschino cherries and devoted her full attention to Sally. "He's your brother, right? Because I was joking about the pedo thing."

"Ben's not like that," Sally muttered irritably. "He's a teenage boy, but he's not _that_ hormonal. Trust me, I would know."

"What, does he like his girls long and leggy?" Ellie mocked, showily swinging her own legs over the counter so she was stretched out across the island.

Sally narrowed her eyes viciously. "He's only fourteen you perv."

"Hey," Ellie held a hand up, an innocent look on her face. "I'm into older guys. Ben is so not my type. I'm just saying, if he's interested, I'm going to use it to my advantage." Lifting her Manhattan cocktail to her lips, Ellie took a teasing sip. "But far be it from me to assume your brother's sexual preferences. Who knows, he might be gay."

"This is _so_ not what I came here to talk about," Sally muttered under her breath, eyes dark.

" _My bad_. Did you think I'd just roll over and follow your plan?" Ellie asked, eyebrows quirked up in a condescending look of pity. "Oh you poor thing."

"Plan?" Sally's look turned nasty. "Who said anything about _a_ plan?" Teeth flashed in a grimace of a smile. "I know _the_ plan. I know exactly how this is going to go and I know _exactly_ how you're going to meet your demise."

"So what, you're some kind of psychic witch doctor?" Ellie laughed in disbelief. "Oh yes, pull the other leg, it has bells on it." Rolling her eyes, the lazy girl took another sip of her drink and regarded the remnants of Sally's drink dolefully, irritated that the girl would waste alcohol like that.

"You see, you're so _sure_ you know everything," Sally hissed vindictively. "You know _nothing._ I'm the only one who has any idea where the plot of this is going! You're just stumbling around in the dark like a blind cat with no whiskers."

Ellie didn't bother containing her chuckling. "Oh look, a six year old trying to be funny. So cute."

"I'm an omnipotent seven and a half year old!" Sally snapped.

"Oh my god, you're insane." Ellie allowed a half-laugh to escape. "I kept waiting for the pieces to click together. I've been sitting here wondering, why oh why would they throw a child against me but now it all makes sense! You're psychotic."

"I'm not crazy, you're just a stubborn ass!" Sally spat, obviously pissed.

"Okay okay okay," Ellie waved her hands, stifling her mirth. "Let's pretend for a moment that this is all just one big story. Now let's also believe that you, out of all the characters, are aware that it's all just a fairytale and you somehow can read the plot-"

"Script," Sally interrupted, still pouting.

"Yes yes, script," Ellie agreed, gesturing for silence. "And this script was written by the giant author or authors in the sky who are dictating our movements like we're all life-like puppets." She gave Sally a smile over her glass. "How am I doing so far?"

Sally nodded grudgingly.

Ellie held her breath for a moment, keeping her laughter from bursting out now, when she was so close. "Now that we've assumed all this is true, what makes you think that I have to follow the script? Or that indeed, the authors have to follow the script?"

"It doesn't matter, I still know what's going to happen," Sally answered back, frowning. "Whatever you do, I already know about it before you do."

Ellie smiled and her shoulders shook with repressed laughter. "So you know then, that I'm going to tell you it doesn't matter if you know what's going to happen. No amount of prior knowledge can keep me from beating you."

Sally growled. "You think you're invincible don't you? You're convinced that _nothing_ can touch you."

Ellie regarded her, blase. "Yes, actually. Especially since you seem so forthcoming about your abilities." She fixed Sally with a knowing look. "Now, I'm flattered that you're talking to me at all, but honestly darling, the only reason you're talking is because you _don't_ know. I'm a wildcard, aren't I?"

"You're sure full of yourself," Sally shot back, a fake smile on her face. "All I see is a mask hiding a coward."

"And all I see is an adorable little girl who thinks some magic powers will help her." Ellie blinked pleasantly. "Isn't that right, _Sal._ "

With a shout of frustration, Sally threw her hands in the air and leapt off the counter, not caring when the glass bit into her bare feet. "I give up! You're hopeless!" With a snarl, Sally snapped, "I can't wait for you to die Ellie. Believe me, I'll be there when you do."

The backdoor slammed behind her.

"Don't hold your breath love," Ellie called after her half-heartedly.

A moment later, the kitchen descended into silence. Ellie let it hang there for a moment, just savoring her cocktail and contemplating the mess Sally had left behind. Then she let out a sharp hiss of laughter.

"And here I thought they'd sent me the dregs. Someone's clearly looking out for me." Slouching to the island countertop, splaying out over it like one line of continuous movement, Ellie murmured, "Maybe you do know Sally, but maybe, that knowledge will be your downfall."

Because what are surprises to a girl who's never had one?

 **A/N: SO! That was fun. I think. I mean, it's done, surprisingly.**

 **IDG: And it only took us *insert amount of time here***

 **Q: Low blow man, low blow. I'm doing my best here.**

 **IDG: Because I have done nothing but sit on my ass.**

 **Q: Come on, Ellie's perspectives are my favorite. I had to write it, I just had to.**

 **IDG: The same way Leo had to eat raw buffalo for an oscar**

 **Q: That's so 2015. Don't bore our readers with your outdated references.**

 **IDG: Well it's too early for a certain Easter reference but did that stop you?**

 **Q: Those bunny ears were to be kept a secret! *Silently plots IDG's doom* But anyways, as ever we're already planning the next chapter. Hopefully, it won't take so long this time. I hope this has pleased everyone. Until next time, toodaloo!**


End file.
